LAHORE, June 24: The Pakistan Debating Society has this year decided not to participate in the world declamation championship being held in Lima, Peru, from Aug 5 due to paucity of funds.

A PDS spokesman said the return ticket to Lima and registration fee being charged by the organizers would cost the seven-member team some Rs1.1 million. Since the PDS did not get any grant from the federal or the provincial government, he said, it was difficult for the society to raise this money from its own resources.

He said that another reason for non-participation in the championship was unavailability of students for the team. In August, most schools and colleges were closed. In some cases, students were seeking admission in foreign universities and were not available in the country.

The spokesman said the Pakistan debating team would participate in the championship to be held in Germany in February.

Meanwhile, the PDS at its annual general meeting decided to hold three debating championships — inter-university in September, national under-19 in October and inter-school under 17 in January.