Six secondary schools are expected to face off today at the Peace Memorial Hall, as preliminary competition in the LIME sponsored Lions Club South secondary schools public speaking competition gets in gear.{{more}}

Zone one of the competition, which is in its 14th year, will see students from the St. Vincent Girls’ High School, Bishops College Kingstown, St. Joseph’s Convent Kingstown, Dr. JP Eustace Memorial Secondary School, St. Clair Dacon Secondary and the Thomas Saunders Secondary, speaking on the topic “The recent referendum exercise in SVG was a waste of scarce resources.”

Preliminary competition is scheduled to take place all this week, with the top six students to advance to the finals.

Zone two features the Campden Park Secondary School, The St. Vincent Grammar School, the Bequia Community High, the Intermediate High, the Bequia Seventh Day Adventist, and the West St. George speaking on Wednesday, September 29 with their topic: “The silencing of the independent voice in SVG. Fact or fiction?”

On Thursday, representatives from the St. Joseph’s Convent Marriaqua, Mountain View Adventist Academy, Emmanuel High School Mesopotamia, Georgetown Secondary, Adelphi Secondary and North Union Secondary, will speak on “The reference to TNT as an ATM for Caribbean countries is a highly inflammatory and provocative statement.”

“Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke is symbolic of an unhealthy alliance between politicians and drug lords in the region,” will be the topic for students of the St. Martin’s Secondary School, The Barrouallie Secondary, Buccament Secondary, Troumaca Ontario secondary, Petit Bordel Secondary and the Union Island Secondary, as the preliminaries come to an end on Friday.

All preliminary rounds take place at the Peace Memorial Hall and are scheduled to begin at 1pm with the October 21 finals set to begin at 7:30pm at the Methodist Church Hall in Kingstown.

Last year the competition was won by the St. Vincent Grammar School represented by Adriel Francois. (JJ)