The coach of the University of Ghana Debate Society, Elisha Owusu Akyaw has expressed excitement over the significant increase in the number of debaters this year compared to previous years.
Speaking in an interview with Univers News during the preliminary rounds on March 9, 2025, he noted that this year has seen a remarkable influx of first-year students joining the society.
“As coach of the University of Ghana Debate Society, I’m really excited to see the freshers we have this year. First off, this is one of the biggest freshman debate championships that we’ve ever had—28 teams, which means we had a huge number of speakers in the debates because each team has two speakers. Then we had 50 public speakers in the public speaking category. And so it’s really good to see the numbers, but the numbers alone aren’t enough.”
He emphasized that beyond the increase in participation, the quality of debaters is also crucial.
“Obviously, the quality is important. And this year we had a lot of people who came in passionate, eager, and ready to learn. I have already seen a lot of great improvements from the time they joined till now.”
Elisha further explained the society’s approach to training new members.
“Usually, when freshers join the society, we break them into groups based on their halls and hostels. Then, we provide them with trainers who assist them. We have hall trainers, and I also provide general coaching for the students. And it’s been really good.”
Eugenia Afua Adoma Atta-Sonno, Agbedanu Weolorm Kwaku, and Lilyan Lawson have expressed their excitement after emerging victorious in the 2025 University of Ghana Debate Society Freshers Tournament. The trio is eager to compete in future high-level tournaments.
The tournament began on March 6, with preliminaries on March 9 and the finals on March 11. The final event featured public speaking rounds, followed by a debate session that concluded at 1:30 PM.
Medals were awarded to participants in the public speaking category and judges of the debate session. In an interview, the winners shared their joy after securing trophies in the most prestigious categories—Public Speaking Freshers Champion and Debate Team of the Year.
