The Saint James Seminary/Secondary School in the Brong-Ahafo region emerged winners in this year’s Northern Zonal debate for secondary schools when they beat Ghana Secondary School in the Northern Region in the final of the competition held in Kumasi at the weekend. The topic at stake was “Poverty Begins When One Child is Denied Access to Quality Education”. Saint James, who spoke for the motion garnered a total of 34 points to emerge winners, whiles Ghana Secondary School, who spoke against the motion had 33 points. On their way to the final, Saint James beat Opoku Ware School (OWASS) in the Ashanti Region by 37 to 32 points, whiles Ghana Secondary accounted for Saint Francis Xavier Seminary/Secondary by 34 to 32 points. By this feat, Saint James has qualified for the grand finale of the competition with their southern zone scheduled for March this year, which would have “The Black Man is Capable of Handling His own Affairs” as the topic. In an address, Mrs. Belinda Serwaa Addo, Ashanti Regional Director of Education, entreated school authorities to let debates feature prominently on their entertainment calendar in order to improve students’ intellectual skills. She also called for the formation of debatingclubs in all secondary schools to help stem the falling standard of the English language in the country.GNA