The winners of the finals of the 10th National Schools Debate Competition which was held at the Teachers’ Hall last Friday, will be presented with their awards today by President J.A. Kufuor. The St. James Seminary Secondary School from Sunyani in the Brong-Ahafo Region, representing the Northern Zone emerged national winners when they beat Archbishop Porter Girls’ Secondary School from Takoradi representing the Southern Zone by 30 to 27 marks. The topic for the debate, organised jointly by the National Planning Committee of the Golden Jubilee celebration and the Ghana Education Service was: "That the black man is capable of managing his own affairs." The winners spoke against the motion. The Minister of Education, Science and Sports, Papa Owusu Ankomah, commended the two schools for their very good performance. He said the debate was an effective instrument to equip students with the skill of public speaking and urged all students to avail themselves of such programmes. The minister expressed happiness that some schools supposedly not being well endowed did so well at the zonal levels and reiterated his ministry’s commitment to providing the necessary materials to all schools to enhance teaching and learning in order to nurture the individual qualities in students. In an interview with one of the speakers for St. James Seminary School, Master Stephen Ampofo Duodu, expressed gratitude to the organisers for instituting the competition which has been running for the past ten years. He said taking part in the finals was by itself an experience for him and he was happy that his school won the ultimate. Times