UN DRUGS AND CRIME

21st September, 2020

Since today was the first day for the practice sessions for Model United Nations, the delegates must have felt difficult to speak up. We chose the topic- “whether euthanasia should be banned or not”. Not many people volunteered to speak but of the ones who did speak, it was clear that they had the potential but all they required was to make them feel more comfortable and confident to speak up and debate. The delegates were given five minutes to gather points and think about euthanasia. The debate didn’t go on the way the chair had expected but they did start speaking up all about what they knew on euthanasia. After a while we realized that it was hard for the delegates to speak on a topic this serious without knowing much about it o the first day itself so with the suggestion of our teachers we changed the topic to whether-“ assess prep examination must be held online or offline.” We didn’t have much time for them to debate on this but they did give some points which was good as they opened up to debating a little. It was very tough to get them to keep their cameras on. After asking them many times to switch their cameras on we let them be as we wanted to make them feel confident while speaking or debating so that there would be some arguments in the committee. We look forward to more interaction and participation from the delegates from the next meeting.

Today, our committee chair and co-chair had an interaction with the delegates and the assigned teachers. The delegates were warmly welcomed and were quite quiet during the starting of the meeting. Our committee had not been able to get ahold of most of the delegates but the present delegates upheld our hope for further debates as they were shy but interactive and tried their best to come up with points to present. Though they were a bit unsure of the debate topics they still put in a little bit of extra effort to figure out as much as they could. I feel strongly that in the coming days the debates will be more intense and the delegates will definitely be more confident and interactive. The co-chair too made a big effort to indulge with the delegates and think that she has been of great assistance and has a leadership role she is taking seriously.

22nd September

There was improvement in the performance of the delegates today. In the beginning of the meet we explained the procedures and important key points to keep in mind during the debate. After that we started a debate on the topic- “whether assess prep should be online or offline.” The delegates were divided into teams of three but then due to internet connectivity issues, the delegates left and only two remained. The delegates were debating with full enthusiasm and sincerity. Even the teachers and the chair and co-chair participated in the debate to motivate the delegates. The chair was a great support during the committee meeting as she explained the procedures to the delegates very clearly. The chair and the co-chair went against each other during the debate in the hopes of motivating the delegates to open up and be confident while debating. Even though the attendance was low, the participation from the delegates who attended the meet, the teachers and the chair made the session today wonderful. I look forward to more participation from all the delegates of my committee in the coming days.

Today’s session was a change of pace from yesterday’s. The students participated more and even the teachers helped boost morale by interacting with the students in the debate as well. Though we ended up with only two attendees, I would say that the meeting was still in a way productive and extremely helpful. The discussed the MUN procedures necessary and the specific use of language needed when in a committee. They have also slowly got the hang of addressing each other as delegates and the head and co-head as the chair and co-chair. I believe that tomorrow will be an even better session with many more attendees.

23rd September

Today’s session was quite disappointing due to the fact that there were almost no students but then again, there’s hope for tomorrow. Except for that our deputy secretary general explained the format and necessities for the position paper and resolution paper. I strongly feel that the number of students present need to increase to increase participation and productivity.

24th September

In today’s session, there was a subtle increase in the number of participants which was extremely good as we got to start more debates and interact better. Our co-head could not be present due to certain connection issues but we made do of what we could. The students were attentive and actively participated some of the time. The number of students can be improved by sending mails and having discussions with them individually or on a personal level. A good thing to note is that the quality of the debates are improving.

25th September

Today we took up another debate of whether the students should keep their camera on during classes or not. I was delighted to see that a few delegates actively participated and tried their best to come up with points to speak. At the same time, they did rely on the teachers, chair, and co-chair too much and in the end resulted in more of a debate with the teachers and co-chair speaking up. I felt that the topic was a bit controversial and personal so an improvement would be to choose easy topics but generalized ones. I hope that on Monday we will have a higher attendance and better debates. A problem that needs to be tackled is the chair (myself) has to learn to be more organized in the agenda.

30th September 2020

In today’s session, there was a slight increase in the number of students present. Normally, form having only 4 students we jumped to 6 students which I believe to still be a good thing. All the 11th graders (4 students) attended the meet, aside from one of the students who said they were sick, all the others spoke a good amount. The 2 9th graders who were available for the meeting were prompted excessively to speak up as much as possible and they definitely tried their best to debate. We tackled the issue of whether TV commercials for fast food restaurants and alcohol should be banned or not. I was shocked to see how fiery the debate was at a point and how well the students had improved over the past week; there was commendable effort made by the students and I feel content about it. I believe indefinitely if there is an increase in the number of students present, the strength of the debate and the committee will be able to build their skills.

1st September 2020

Today’s session started off a little slow. At first, we had around 8 students but a lot of them left after the attendance was taken. However, there were a few students who stayed back and some had to rejoin due to network problems. The debate today was of a little higher standard and the students tried their best to debate and speak up about the issue. They did get sidetracked quite a few times but we constantly reminded them and prompted them to stay fixated on the topic and the topic only and made sure their minds didn’t wander too much. Their debate skills are improving and they are getting the hang of working together as a committee. This commendable effort is mainly made by the students Arnav, Manthan, Adhwait, Hemangini, Sahil, and Shriyansh.

5th October 2020

Yesterday the committee had a debate on the topic “whether social media should be banned before a certain age limit.” The delegates actively debated on this topic and gave quite some points after the chair had given a point. At the end of the session, they didn't debate much so we asked them to update us on their state in their position as well as resolution papers. We gave them a deadline to complete their position papers and resolution papers by the next day session.

6th October 2020

today the committee was given time to complete their position papers as well as the resolution papers for the people who were assigned the reso papers.