The 5th PDA High School Parliamentary Debate
World Congress 2020 Report
General Incorporated Association
Parliamentary Debate Personnel Development Association (PDA)
Dates:
2020/1/17(Friday), 1/18(Saturday) and 1/19(Sunday)
Venue:
Hotel Nikko Kansai Airport Kansai - Airport Conference Halls
1 Senshukukokita, Izumisano-shi, Osaka Prefecture 549-0001
Tel: (81) 72-455-1111
Hosted by:

Parliamentary Debate Personnel Development Association (PDA)

Cosponsored by:

JST-Mirai Program “Mechanism design for debate spacecirculating, extending and generating collective intelligence”
ProjectSponsored by:

The Nippon Foundation, KDDI Foundation

Supported by:Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Sciences andTechnology (MEXT), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan(MOFA), The Asahi Shimbun Company, Asahi StudentNewspaper, English-Speaking Union of Japan (ESUJ) andOsaka Prefecture University.

Participating schools and debate teams: 14 Teams (Japan 5 teams, Overseas 9)Japan – Shibuya Junior and Senior High School
Japan – Saitama Municipal Urawa High School
Japan – Asano High School
Japan – Kanagawa Prefectural Hakuyo High School
Japan – Fukuoka Prefectural Jonan High School
Korea Busanjangan High School
Philippines Timber City Academy
Cambodia 2Malaysia2South Africa, Rumania (Swing 1)Turkey, Argentina (Swing 2)
US, German (Swing 3)
South Africa 2 (Absence)
Philippines 1 (Absence)2

Purpose of the Event:
Recently, as the process of globalization accelerates, fostering talents that can contribute toa global society and understand cultural diversity and different ways of thinking has become one of
the most important goals. The PDA High School Parliamentary Debate World Congress (PDA WorldCongress) aims to help participants nurture and strengthen their English speaking skills, logicalthinking, presentation skills, communication skills, general knowledge and other various skills
through active participation in British Parliamentary debate format. It is a wonderful opportunity forstudents from different countries to achieve personal growth while exchanging ideas and arguments
on an equal footing. The primary purpose of this event is to motivate participants to grow into active
talents of our global society. To better assist that process, we have included various educational
opportunities such as keynote speeches and other contemporary lectures. Our main goal is topromote truly effective cultural exchanges using debate as a means to an end. Moreover, PDA HighSchool Parliamentary Debate World Congress’s schedule has been designed to resemble
international/academic conferences. It is a unique experience for high school students as it provides
them with a chance to visualize themselves being on an international stage.
Furthermore, PDA World Congress integrates the results of a research project supported by
the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Sciences and Technology (MEXT) and uses animpromptu English debate format that can be used in a regular high school class (50 minutes). It is aformat that is both familiar to the students who have some experiences in debates throughextra-curricular activities, and at the same time, friendly to the students who have no prior training indebates.
Motions:(Motions were announced 15 minutes before the beginning of each round)
Preliminary round 1: Parental leave should be made mandatory for both parents.
Preliminary round 2: A maximum number of terms for parliament members should be established.
Preliminary round 3: In primary and secondary school years, students should be grouped bycompetency and intelligence instead of age.
Quarter Final:

The Olympic Games should be abolished.

Semi Final:

The United States should remove all sanctions against Iran.

Grand Final:

Government should obligate companies to allow their employees to telework.

Keynote speeches’ speaker:
Ph.D. President KDDI Foundation
Dr. Suzuki Masatoshi
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First day (Opening Ceremony, Mix Debates, Culture Night)
The 5th PDA High School Parliamentary Debate World Congress 2020 finally began withthe welcome speech of Chihiro Nakagawa, PDA’s Innovative Officer. 9 teams from 10 Overseas
countries and 5 Japanese high schools were introduced. Isao Ayabe, PDAWC’s chief judge
confirmed some points of rules.

The first day’s main activity was mix-debate. Teams were formed randomly with students
from each country. Each student needed to corporate with other students who they met for the firsttime using only English. The motions were “School uniforms should be abolished.” and “Childfashion models should be banned.” Away from their usual debate teammates, participants had todebate with students whose backgrounds are different from them. It was an exciting and stimulating
experience for them. Ideas about school uniforms, child labor or interventions from parents to theirchildren’s future were different from country to country. These mix debates promoted the mutual
understanding through debating and talking with their teammates.

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In the evening, Culture Night was held, where participants dressed in their country’s
traditional attire and introduced their own countries. It was a great opportunity for them to knoweach other better through traditional dances, national anthems, attractive local foods, beautiful
landscapes and cultures.

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Second Day (Preliminary rounds, Recreation, Quarter finals and Banquet)
On the 2nd Day, the preliminary rounds of the PDA World Congress finally began. In aquite different and tense atmosphere than during the Mix-debates on the previous day, each teambegan to argue and debate intensely with their opponents, with frequent calls of POI (Point ofInformation) being heard. After each round, students listened attentively to the judge’s comments
trying to use the advice for the next round.

7After preliminary rounds, recreation time was held. Participants brought gifts and tradedthem via a conversation minigame. It became a time for students to converse in a different mannerthan debating about their usual lives as a student. When the gifts were opened, voices of excitement
could be heard all around the room.

After the Recreation, the results of the preliminary rounds (break-announcement) wererevealed. The teams participating to the quarter-finals were announced (Results below). At the end of
this long day, students enjoyed the Banquet where the cultural presentations were continued.
Students enjoyed regardless of where they are from, even having conversations and taking photos
after the Banquet.

8Results of the Preliminary rounds:
1st Malaysia 1
2nd Philippines
3rd Cambodia 1
4th Malaysia 2
5th Asano
6th Shibushibu
7th Hakuyo
8th Cambodia 2

9Third Day (Semifinals, Grand Final, keynote speech, closing ceremony)
The last day began with the Semifinals(Shibuya vs Philippines, Asano vs Malaysia 1).
Participants got on the stage, where tables were set.
Each speaker spoke in front of the audience withvigor and confidence. Teams who didn’t make it to
the Semifinals also participated, taking memos andsharing their opinions after the match.

Before the Grand Final, the long-awaited keynote speaker, Mr. Suzuki (Ph.D. President ofKDDI foundation) took the podium and shared his knowledge about the innovation and future oftelecommunication.

Finally, the Grand Final round (Philippines vs. Malaysia 1) began. Adjudicators for theGrand final round consisted of each country’s representative faculty members and, as a guest
adjudicator, Keynote speaker Mr. Suzuki. In a tense and heated atmosphere, participants listened
attentively to the speeches of the teams who stood victorious after three days of debate. And thewinner was ……Malaysia 1.

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In the closing ceremony, awards were presented, and PDA’s founder and director
Nakagawa presented concluding remarks; she stated that the future of debate, wheretelecommunication could be used, would come soon. She also encouraged the students to keep
communicating in English.

We would like to show our gratitude to the Hotel Nikko Kansai Airport for providing uswith a wonderful place for the World Congress to be held. The PDA 2020 World Congresssuccessfully ended as participants left the venue with satisfaction and new challenges ahead of them.
We would like to express our gratitude to the participants all around the world, faculty members,
keynote speakers, sponsors, supporters and everyone who helped this event to be successful.

11Results of the 5th PDA High School Parliamentary Debate World Congress 2020
Team Prize
1st Place: Malaysia 1
2nd Place: Philippines
Semi Finalists: Asano, Shibushibu
Quarter Finalists: Cambodia 1, Cambodia 2, Hakuyo, Malaysia 2

Individual Prizes
Best Speaker
1st Lau Wee Ern（Malaysia 1）
2nd HOR HENG SEREY ROTH（Cambodia 1）
3rd Rohan Subagaran（Malaysia 1）
4th KAZUKI NISHIMOTO （Asano）
4th KANA KANZAKI（Shibushibu）
4th Leigh Clyde Ng Raper（Philippines）
7th Nurul Iman Binti Irwin（Malaysia 2）
8th Adonis Joshua A. Po（Philippines）
8th PEN PECH PANHCHAKPOR（Cambodia 1）
8th PEN PECH PANHA（Cambodia 1）
Best POI
1st KAZUKI NISHIMOTO (Asano)
2nd LIMA SPIELHOFEN （Germany）
2nd AKSAY MEHMET（Turkey）

Culture Prize
Philippines
Cambodia12

Questionnaire Results and Impressions on PDA 2020 World Congress

DID YOU ENJOYED PARTICIPATING IN THE
PDAWC？
It wasn't bad., 4.1%

I had fun.,16.3%

I enjoyed it very much.,
79.6%

Participants’ Impressions on PDA 2019 World CongressThis is a selection of impressions written by the participants (students, faculty members andobservers).
Impressions（Students）-I really enjoyed especially because foreign people had different values and styles. I cannot
experience this in Japan so I’m so glad I participated in this competition. （Japan）-

I can’t believe that I was able to take part in such a fantastic competition. Thank you for giving
me great opportunity. （Japan）-Really nice. Hope I could participate here once again. （Korea）-

I LOVED IT! I HOPE I CAN BE ABLE TO COME BACK HERE IN THE FUTURE EVENIF IM IN COLLEGE HEHEHE.（Philippines）-

A “must experience” event for debaters all around the world. （Philippines）-

It was a really great debate tournament. Not only did it exposed me to different manners ofdebating, it also allowed me to learn about other cultures from diverse countries.（Malaysia）-

I feel very honored to be able to participate and put Cambodia on the stage of PDAWC. It is avery great platform for friendly debates, especially as we are quite new to debate. It was anamazing experience.（Cambodia）
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-It was really enjoyable and made me learn some more about debating.（Cambodia）-

It is a nice tournament.（Turkey）-

I enjoyed it a lot and thank everyone for the hospitality! （Germany）-

At first I really didn’t think of this as a big competition, and didn’t really believe that it would
be intense. However after the first debate I realized how intense this was, and got nervous, butby the second day I believe that I was able to get used to it, and was able to help out myteammate a little bit.（US）-I had fun interacting with new people!（Romania）-

It was an incredible experience which allowed me to improve my debating skills andknowledge about the world.（South Africa）（Teachers）-

I’d love to join next year again.（Japan）-

I would like to participate PDAWC again next year. I am looking forward to the next year.
（Japan）-So Nice.（Japan）-

Coming here again with my students has been one of my biggest dreams for two years.

Thankyou very much for having made my dream come true.（Japan）-

PDAWC 2020 is the best of the past PDAWC.（Japan）-

This is truly an impressive event.（Philippines）-

I enjoy it. （Cambodia）-

It was good but it would have been better if there were more rounds.（Cambodia）-

Excellent.（Malaysia）

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