SPECPOL

(Head: Hariyanth Nagesh, Co-Head: Kashika Gulabani)

21.09.2020

Today was our first session, it started with introduction and briefing about the committee. We had an introductory explanation of the purpose and goals of SPECPOL by the former head, Pranav. The session had a handful of participants, very few students had turned up, however with the help of the teachers a mediocre debate was put ahead. We debated about the Crises in the Mediterranean,which later transitioned to illegal migrations and other political concerns,we had a few plausible suggestions.

However the debate wasn't up to the mark, but it was an honest effort. I hope the participation and attendance improves in the next few days.

This was our first session, all the introductions were done and brief information was given on the committee. The attendance was an issue as not many people turned in. The ones that did were moderately active in participating but due to low numbers, there wasn’t much progress in the debate. We discussed the migration crisis in the Mediterranean, and more in general about illegal immigrants crossing borders. I think as for the first session, it's quite early to judge what was working well and what wasn’t but I hope the participation and attendance improves in the next few days.

22.09.2020

I wasn't part of today's session due to personal reasons. However it's come to my notice that in today's session there was an improvement in the attendance and with simple debate topics, a lot of students came up with their views on the issues, the debate was structured really well. The topics were "Should homework be abolished or not?"; "Do online classes do more harm than good?". The delegates also tried using the procedures in the mock debate. Few delegates were reluctant to speak and had their cameras off throughout. We hope to improve the quality of the debate and have a full attendance from tomorrow.

The attendance had a huge improvement today and many more delegates joined the meet. We discussed the procedures first and informed them of the points, motions and caucuses. There was much better participation in the mock debate and the delegates kept it going in a flow. We first discussed if homework should be abolished or not and then went forward to talking about if online classes do more harm than good. The delegates also tried using the procedures in the mock debate. There were still some students who didn’t show up and some who were reluctant to speak up and we hope to improve that part of our sessions.

23.09.2020

We started the session by explaining the formats of position and resolution papers and then explaining the flow of the committee.The attendance wasn’t still quite on point and there was some unwillingness to speak but the delegates made some valid points in the discussion. Today’s topics were if fairy tales affect children’s reality perception and if violent cartoons have a negative impact on a child’s mentality. We tried incorporating the procedures in the mock debate as well. The delegates are getting more used to the proceedings of the debate. I think we should be able to see some more improvement in the attendance and participation of the delegates and should be able to make the discussions a bit more formal.

24.09.2020

We discussed the topics “Everyone should have the right to own a gun” and “Is censorship necessary for the media”. There was better participation by few delegates while some didn't engage well. We are looking forward to seeing more people coming in and manifesting their opinions so as to come up with better debates. The attendance is still not satisfactory.

25.09.2020

There were some more people who attended, we saw a few new faces, but they were still very composed. We will try and get more delegates to engage into conversation instead of the very few who do. Today’s debate topic was “Caste system in India now is more of injustice than a way of life as it was”, the delegates showed the committee reliable evidence and supported their statements well. We count on seeing more delegates using the formal protocols.

28.09.2020

The debate topic for today was if police officers who shoot unarmed suspects should still be allowed to work. Our attendance is still on the lower bounds and there are several students who seem to be very hesitant to express their opinions on the topic. A few of the delegates are quite enthusiastic and make sure to keep the debate going smoothly. Much proper reasoning was done for every point made. We still count on seeing better participation and attendance.

29.09.2020

There was a minor increase in attendance today. We debated on the topic “Climate change is the greatest threat confronting the world today”. There was a drastic improvement in the quality of the discussion. Delegates were very keen towards expressing their viewpoints and continued to give factual evidence for every point they made. The protocols were also taken in consideration and used well with the on-going debate. The delegates also contributed and gave suggestions for the proceedings of the committee.

30.09.2020

We had a substantial amount of improvement in the attendance today. All the representatives were indulged in the debate as well. We debated on the topic “India deserves a bigger role in the United Nations”. All of the delegates made their points very clear and supported themselves with evidence. The committee also got into the flow of using the protocols properly and had an extremely satisfactory discussion. A few students still don’t show up at all, and we hope to see them in the next few days.

01.10.2020

Today we decided on what countries will be presenting resolution papers for the main session. They were also briefed on how we plan on taking forward the making of these papers. We then went forward to debate on the topic “Is peer pressure harmful or beneficial to humans?” The attendance was almost as much as yesterday and all the delegates participated in the discussion well. Their research and use of protocol also showed development. We’d still like to see the rest of the students come in.