IDEA Asia Youth Forum: Double joy for Aleena

Aleena Ali is on cloud nine.

Her team, Pakistan 2, won the first Asian Karl Popper Debate Championship and the icing on the cake was her getting the Top Speaker award.

She feels her interest in politics and the fact that she follows current issues has helped her in debate.

“I enjoyed public speaking a lot when I was studying in Australia,” said the 17-year-old A-Level student from Lahore.

“My English teacher taught me to basic argumentation and I began to get more interested in debate,” she added.

She plans to join politics after her studies. “This is the most effective way to bring changes. It is also patriotic,” she added.

Her teammate Murtaza Chaudhry said he felt patriotic representing his country at the championship.

“Today it was about representing my country. Before this, I was only representing my school,” said the 18-year-old also from Lahore.

For Zainab Shahid, 17, representing her country is nothing new.

She has participated in the World Schools Debating Championship in 2010 and 2011. Her team got 17th and 10th placing respectively.

She started debating when she was 15 after her drama teacher, sensing her talent, encouraged her to take it up.

Coach Haider Khan, aged 24, said this team was put together three weeks ago after the debating society in Pakistan had a selection process.