High Commissioner of Mauritius Soobadar Rashidally was the chief guest at the International Public Speaking Competition (IPSC) organized by the English Speaking Union (ESU) at Model College for Girls in F7 last week. The topic was ‘Nature is a Common Language’.

Fauzia Nasreen, a retired Pakistani ambassador, was one of the judges, and she said after the event: “I was impressed by all the young contestants, confident and well prepared, coming from varies colleges and universities, including Karachi, Lahore, Murree, and Islamabad. They could mostly defend their statements very well when asked tricky questions by the judges and audience.”

High Commissioner Rashidally remarked several times smilingly that the students gave thought provoking and deep answers to philosophical questions.

“The style of such competitions may be a bit outdated, reminding me of old English boarding schools. Still, I hope ESU’s IPSC will continue in the years to come in Pakistan”, said one of the guests.

The winners of the contest were both from Karachi, Syed Hamad Mukhtar, Habib University and Kinza Imran, Bahria College Karsaz.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2019