Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Debating Competitions

Many countries, including Indonesia, have enacted quarantine and lockdown efforts to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, many areas are no longer available for access to the general public, which includes schools and universities. Without access to the buildings and facilities, it is difficult for universities to continue holding debate competitions. In addition, there are prohibitions for citizens to travel across cities and countries, so it was impossible to hold competitions in a large scale, such as internationally.

In exchange, debating competitions are now held with the help of online platforms. The act of matching, scoring, viewing rank placements, and providing the debate rooms themselves all can be done through the usage of different kinds of browser apps, such as Herokuapp or Zoom. There would also be less costs to be taken into consideration by the hosts, since they don’t need to provide accommodations or consumption. With the high availability of online resources that can be used for hosting competitions, comes ease of access for any institution that wants to hold their own. The amount of debate competitions that have appeared in a year during the pandemic has exceed the number pre-pandemic. Furthermore, since there is no need for students to travel to participate, it is easier to join national or international scale competitions if desired. Students who previously didn’t have the time or money to participate can now do so.

It is still uncertain what this means for the future of competitive debating – there is a possibility that we will continue to see online competitions even after the lockdown is lifted, due to the ease of management and accessibility it provides. Hopefully, the recent developments will lead to more opportunities in the future for everyone in the debating society.