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The Intra-school round of the much-awaited Locked Heads 5.0, finally took place in Pathways School Gurgaon from the 31st of August to the 4th of September 2024. Students from across MYP 1, 2, and 3 battled it in a series of 3 rounds through engaging in competitive, respectful, and intellectual debates on variety of topics ranging from artificial intelligence to social justice movements, and even International Relations and Global Conflict. The 24 participants were bubbling with excitement, the conversations and enlightening questions on the Microsoft teams chat displayed the development of the learner profiles inquirer and knowledgeable. As the teams geared up in the MPH, the labyrinth of emotions shone as they did last minute preparations, research, and discussions and even collaborating with other teams. The wait was over, and the time was now, with that the Locked Heads 5.0 Intra-school Round 2 commenced!! 
 
Quarter Finals 
 
The top 8 highest scoring teams from day 1 of the intra-school event went head to headhead-to-head as the battled it out in the quarter-finals on Friday, the 31st of August. It was R.R.R VS The argument avengers, 
Forensic Forces VS The Speech Sorcerers, The Logicals VS The Mic Masters, and last but not least The Opinionators VS The Logical Lions. The motion before the house was “This house believes social justice movements should predominantly use social media rather than other forms of protest” 

 The teams on side proposition did not fail to bring out valuable points in their speeches, the debaters delved into the intricate legal framework of governments, the unwanted chaos protests never fail to create, vandalism of property and historical sites, and even proposed different solutions that will have a wider communal reach such as the use of social media to get a bigger following for the said social issue. While the proposition came in strong, the opposition definitely did not disappoint with their approach to taking the pathos approach, looking into the perspectives of citizens and people being discriminated against, the media over-simplifying the issues through algorithms in apps, slacktivism, the history of protests and the long lasting impact, and the concept of fake news. 

 
The debaters competed for a spot in the semi-finals, statistics VS statistics rebuttals VS rebuttals. “It was truly thrilling to participate in” rightly stated by Seher Shrinagesh. The debates were close, but there could only be one winner and a total of 4 teams remaining. The winners of the quarter-finals that moved on to the semi-finals were R.R.R, Forensic Forces, The Mic Masters, and the Opinionators. 
 
 Semi-finals 
 
On Monday, the 2nd of September, the four teams faced off in adrenaline-rushing debates. The Speech Sorcerers vs. the Argument Avengers and The Logical vs. the Logical Lions. The motion before the house today was “This house believes feminist groups in countries with mandatory military service should advocate for the inclusion of women”. The debate continued to follow the WSDC format followed in the previous rounds, starting with the intense coin toss and then the motion release followed by a 15-minute prep type. The thrilling stress was evident on the participants faces from a mile away as they defined motions, identified stakeholders, engaged in riveting rebuttals and truly locked heads. 
 
The proposition side took an interesting approach as they spoke about the benefits of military service, the basic rights of not just women but any global citizen, diversity, inclusivity, the brutality of sexism, the importance of self-defence, economic benefits and advancements, anatomy of the human being, real-life case studies, equity, fair standards, and how national security matters. The opposition delved right into the facts as they acknowledged the women’s perspective and choices, the healthcare issues they may face, lack of specific needs, biological disadvantages, values, and belief systems. 
 
“Through societies eyes, the proposition may have had an advantage, but the opposition did not fail to impress the adjudicators” as said by Brinda Lomror (OC), leading to the winners of the semi-finals that moved on the finals being The Logical Lions and The Speech Sorcerers! 
 
Finals 
 
It was finally time, for the day we all had been waiting for as we were engulfed in anticipation: The 4th of September 2024, the day of the Locked Heads 5.0 Intra-School finals. The singular hour that would determine the Pathways School Gurgaon debate champions of 2024. The Logical Lions? Or perhaps The Speech Sorcerers? There was no knowing of the day to come. 
 
The debaters arrived eager for the round to come and enveloped in complex emotions, from stress and anxiety to joy and buzzing excitement. As the coin toss began the participants chose their side of the coin, The Logical Lions were the winners of the coin toss, and they got to determine the side of the motion they wanted to represent, after a brief discussion they chose proposition, leaving the Speech Sorcerers to be side opposition. The teams were immersed?in preparations the moment the 15-minute timer started and the motion was released, starting with an intense discussion with their teammates to the point where the rapid typing stood out in deafening silence. As said by co-adjudicator; Samaira Singh “Engagement is high” 
 
The motion before the house was “This house believes that the government should give reparations for communities affected by historical, racial injustices”. Side proposition came in strong with points based upon real-life case studies, the acts in the legal framework, transformative impacts on society, empowerment of communities, ensuring resources, requires funding and budgeting, acknowledging emotional scars of communities discriminated against, past reparations that were provided to Japanese-Americans, justice being prevailed or as stated by Shauryaveer Karla “Justice is being DELAYED”, future discrimination, compensation, colonisation, equity not equality, last but not least “communities are still being discriminated against, this is not a matter of the past” as stated by Avaani Singh. The proposition made a handful of arguably strong points, but that does not mean the opposition fell short. Team opposition conveyed some undeniably valuable arguments such as the policies that should be made thinking about the future not the past, reparations being temporary fixes that don’t heal emotional and psychological impact, conducting campaigns and initiatives over handing out money, and as Jiana Shahi stated: “we must focus on the present and future, rather than delving on past mistakes”. 
 
Both teams came in with highly strong, valuable, and unique points along with riveting rhetoric and witty rebuttals. The intensity of the teams battling it for 1st place and the title of the winner of Locked Head 5.0, truly nurtured and fostered the spirit of debate that Locked Heads is all about. After all “The finals was truly an enriching experience” as said by adjudicator Anya Sharma. 
 
After receiving detailed feedback from the beloved adjudicators; Anya Sharma and Samaira Singh, it was time for the much-awaited verdict that would determine the winners. With that, the adjudicators announced the winners of the Locked Heads 5.0 Intra-school 2024 as The Logical Lions!!!! 
 
A whole-hearted?congratulations?to all the debaters! And a special kudos to the winners; Sharanya Bhandhari, Shauryaveer Karla, and Avaani Singh! 
 
The journey from the quarter-finals to the finals for this year’s was truly a roller coaster ride for everyone, from the eager debaters to the determined organising committee. 
 
“It has been thrilling to witness the young debaters slaughter the points of the opposition to effortlessly 
emerge victorious in a courteous manner. The fire has been lit, lit; PSG will surely shine as the hub of debaters in the years to come” 
- Ms Harpreet Kaur, Mentor for Locked Heads2024 

 By Anaisha Kakkar MYP 4 Cub-Reporter