CO-EDUCATION IN SECONDARY SCHOOL SHOULD NOT BE ABOLISHED
Good day, Chairman, Panel of Judges, my co-debaters, Ladies and Gentlemen. I am here to speak a. gainst the motion which states: Co-education in secondary schools should be abolished. Co-educational school or mixed school is a school where both male and female students learn together under the same roof and condition. A few years back, some people believed that mixed schools should be abolished. Nowadays, mixed or co-educational schools are very common and I strongly believe that the system should not be abolished, rather it should be encouraged.
The greatest fear and the strongest point of the disciples of the old system is that immorality is common in mixed schools. I want to disagree with this point because there are cases of immorality occurring in purely girls' schools and one wonders who is to blame for this. It is therefore, hypocritical to have separate schools for boys and girls. The basic cause of immorality may even be the separation of boys from girls because when the two sexes attend the same school, study and play together, there is the tendency that they will take one another for granted. However, any opportunity for boys and girls to come together when they attend separate schools is often abused because from experience, boys continually nurse fanciful ideas about girls and vice-versa when they attend separate schools.
Co-education encourages unity that is supposed to exist between male and female students. When boys and girls attend the same school, they learn about the psyche of one another. They will be able to understand the motives behind every behaviour and change of attitude. Over the years. they will gather numerous experiences which will enable them to live together in unity and harmony with the opposite sex even after leaving school. Therefore, co-education naturally gives practical and balanced orientation which make it possible for the young boys and girls to exist together under the same conducive atmosphere. Chairman, Panel of Judges, Ladies and Gentlemen you will agree with me that our young boys and girls need to be encouraged to study together so that they can know one another better. Co-education is one of the ways through which we can ensure peaceful marriages and homes in future.
I am aware that my opponents would want to argue that juvenile delinquency and indiscipline are common in mixed schools. But I want to ask them a question: Are there no cases of juvenile delinquency and flagrant indiscipline in purely boys' or girls' schools? There have been cases of students flagrantly disobeying rules in girls' schools as well as in boys' schools. In co-educational schools, behaviours and comportment of boys and girls are finely regulated by the co-existence of the two sexes in schools. Boys will not reckon with girls who usually disobey their teachers and vice versa.
Co-education promotes a healthy academic rivalry between boys and girls. No boy likes to be relegated to the background by a girl in his class. Therefore. it is common in co-educational schools that boys will want to dominate the girls academically and conversely, the girls always struggle hard to prove that whatever boys can do, they can do it better. In this way, a progressive and healthy academic and sporting rivalries always exist among boys and girls.
Finally, it is cheaper to have boys and girls learning in the same schools than to have separate schools for the two sexes. Building separate schools for the different sexes will amount to wastage of public funds and duplication of schools and resources which can be conserved if we encourage co-education.
Chairman, Panel of Judges Ladies and Gentlemen. why are we being hypocritical and wasteful by abolishing co-education? Co-education should be encouraged and promoted in our society. Thank you very much for listening.