Five school teams from India would be traveling to US next spring to represent India at the international Harvard debating platform after they qualified in the Harvard College Debating Union World Schools – India Invitationals 2026, organised by the Indian Debating League (IDL) in partnership with the Harvard College Debating Union, in Jaipur. This is IDL’s second edition.
Following three days of competition, four Open-category teams and one Novice-category team secured the spot. The selected teams are from: Cathedral and John Connon School, JPIS, The Shri Ram School, Moulsari, Vasant Valley School, and Mallya Aditi International School. These teams will now prepare for Harvard College Debating Union World Schools, scheduled for April 2027 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where they will compete with best teams from 30 countries.
Held from 14–16 August at Jayshree Periwal International School, Jaipur, the tournament brought together 250 students from 54 schools across India and was conducted in the World Schools Debating Championship (WSDC) format.
The event featured Mr. Mohit Yadav, Co-Founder of Minimalist and Zyna Dhillon, Convener, Harvard College Debating Union, who interacted with participants and shared their perspectives on debating, communication and the importance of creating global opportunities for young speakers.
“What we built at IDL has always been bigger than teaching young minds how to build strong arguments. Life rarely hands you certainty. Bounded rationality, the idea that we never have complete information, yet we still have to choose, argue, and act inside that incompleteness is not just a debate skill. That’s the basic condition of being a person in the world today. Today, seeing five teams earn the opportunity to represent India is a powerful reflection of how far this community has come, ” said Anjali Tiwary, Founder and CEO of IDL.
