The Cameroon School Debate Championship (CSDC) is an annual debate and public speaking tournament that started way back in 2021 by the Commonwealth club of the University of Yaounde II, under the name “ Comsu Word Cup” for two years. It began with the British Parliamentary format of debating( a debate format that consists of four teams, containing two speakers each, which are divided into two sides). This was later on changed into the World School Debate Format(WSDC) with the entry of Baseline Orators Network(BON) in 2023and adhering to the complaints of secondary school kids about the technicality of the British Parliamentary format of debate. The WSDC format is one wherein eight speeches are delivered by two teams of three members, representing the proposition and the opposition sides, the first six speeches are eight minutes in duration with each team finishing up by giving a four-minute concluding reply speech.
This competition has for the past years, created a significant impact in the Centre region thus the need to expand it to the different regions of the country , in 2024 with the coming into place of the Commonwealth Student’s Union, the competition has extended its tentacles to the Southwest region of Cameroon, having new partners like Nature gives back and Mbao Hub which is an environmental inclined association, an environmental competition between schools have been included in the program under the name “ environmental make something’ which is all about recycling waste.
Each region is therefore entitled to carry out preliminary competitions, where after the champion of each region will be invited to the Centre Region during the commonwealth week to crown the best from the different regions of the country as the best in Cameroon.