ORATIO 2012

As early as the first century B.C. P. Cornelius Tacitus who was both a historian and a politician argued that the skill of oratory was an essential part of education. He felt that great oratory is like a flame: it needs fuel to feed it, movement to fan it, and it brightens as it burns.

In Western classical rhetoric, elocution was one of the five core disciplines of pronunciation, which was the art of delivering speeches. Orators were trained not only on proper diction, but on the proper use of gestures, stance, and dress. Elocution emerged as a formal discipline during the eighteenth century. While training on proper speaking had been an important part of private education for many centuries, the rise in the nineteenth century of a middle class in Western countries (and the corresponding rise of public education) led to great interest in the teaching of elocution, and it became a staple of the school curriculum.

The purpose of public speaking can range from simply transmitting information, to motivating people to act, to simply telling a story. Good orators should be able to change the emotions of their listeners, not just inform them. Public speaking can be a powerful tool to use for purposes such as motivation, influence, persuasion, informing, translation, or simply ethos.

We at St. Anthony’s High School honour the age old discipline of oratory and by way of encouraging young talent to hone their skills in this field we have decided to institute the ORATIO trophy to the best speaker among young students of English medium schools in the city. This is by no means our maiden foray into the world of competitive elocution. The institution has had a long history of hosting elocution contests in which premier schools of the city participated. However, owing to certain constraints the contest had to be kept in a dormant mode for some time. This year, under the helmsmanship of our young and dynamic Headmaster, Fr. Devraj Fernandes, and the support of our sponsor Mr. Murli Punjabi, we have been able to resurrect the contest. After several brainstorming sessions we decided to institutionalize the contest and make it an annual affair that students from all over the city will look forward to. We also decided to christen the event ORATIO in the tradition of the classical masters of the past. The topic of this year's contest was "Does the Media Inform or Deform Young Minds?"

Mr. Murli Punjabi

PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS

DON BOSCO PARK CIRCUS

ST. XAVIERS COLLEGIATE SCHOOL

LORET DAY SCHOOL SEALDAH

LORETO DAY SCHOOL DHARAMTALLA

LORETO DAY SCHOOL BOWBAZAR

LORETO DAY SCHOOL ELIOT ROAD

BIRLA HIGH SCHOOL

APEEJAY SCHOOL

ST. AUGUSTINE’S DAY SCHOOL

ST. JOSEPH’S COLLEGE

MEGHMALA ROY EDUCATION CENTRE

ST. MARY’S SCHOOL

ST. ANTHONY’S HIGH SCHOOL

Sponsor: Mr. Murli Punjabi is an ex-Anthonian. He is a successful businessman and a benefactor for all good causes. He is also the secretary of the Sindhi Panchayat, Kolkata.

Fr. Devraj Fernandez

Guests

Chief Guest: Mr.Satish Kapoor is one of the founders of Punjabee Bradaree. He has been its secretary and president for three years respectively as also the president of the Punjab Club for the same number of years. He is presently engaged in a pet project, that is, setting up a school for underprivileged children at Topsia.

Guest of Honour: Mrs. Charlotte Simpson Veigas is a senior lecturer in the Department of Education, St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata. She is also an Academic counselor for the IGNOU B.Ed. study centre at St. Xavier’s College. She has also lectured at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science and at Jadavpur University as guest lecturer.

 The Judges

Prof. Salil Biswas is a retired principal and former head of the Department of English of Heramba Chandra College. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the noted academic journal Pegasus. He has edited various books and monographs especially those published by the Pegasus Press.


Prof. Buroshiva Dasgupta is the Programme Director of Development Communication, Institute of Development Studies, Calcutta University. He is a former Director of Manipal Institute of Communication, Manipal University. He is also the Editor of Global Media Journal. He has over twenty-five years of experience in the media as a practicing journalist.


Dr. Santanu Majumdar is an Associate Professor in the Department of English of Calcutta University. He has an MA in English from Cambridge University and a PhD from Leeds University. His first book, entitled Dazzled by a Thousand Suns, on interpretations of The Gita was published in 2008.

Md. Qammar Khan

Zeeshan Iqbal

The host school was represented by  Md. Qammar Khan, who had stood first in the Inter-House Elocution Contest, and Zeeshan Iqbal, who had stood second in the Inter-House Elocution contest.

Results

Stood first: SPARSH AGARWAL (Don Bosco School, Park Circus)

Stood Second: OEINDRILA SHAW (Loreto Day School, Sealdah)

Stood Third: ADITYA PRASANNA BHATTACHARYA (St. Xavier’s Collegiate School)

Championship Trophy: Don Bosco, Park Circus