First and foremost let me congratulate Ndola Girls Technical School for winning the first prize of the second edition of the inter-schools insurance debate that was held last weekend as a curtain raiser to the national insurance week that runs from September 14 to 18 , 2015.
The second prize went to new entrants Dominican Convent while the third was scooped by last year’s winners Fatima Girls Secondary School.
On individual performances, the first prize of K500 for the best debater went to Mwamba Mwamba from Ndola Girls while the other two prizes saw the second and third best debaters walk away with K300 and K200 cash respectively.
The rich insurance inter-schools debate saw each participating school walk away with some consolation prizes other than the three prizes.
However, one would not expect much from pupils on a specialised subject like insurance but this was not the case during this heightened debate.
Ndola District Education Board Secretary (DEBS) commended the insurance industry for such an initiative that has been held in the district for the second year running.
Stella Chanda Chewe, who represented the DEBS, stressed the need to equip young ones with the vital insurance knowledge which benefits society at large.
She cited the recent fire that saw Honour Janza’s flat reduced to ashes as a typical example of the need for insurance.
Insurers Association of Zambia executive director, Christabel Banda applauded the participating schools for responding positively to what she said is now an annual event.
In emphasising her association’s value on raising awareness among young people Mrs Banda announced that IAZ will introduce insurance clubs in secondary schools across the country.
The event attracted sponsorship from a number of industry players like Liberty Insurance Company that sponsored all the prizes while Insurance Brokers Association of Zambia (IBAZ) represented by its vice president, co-sponsored the lunch.
Despite the short notice given to participating schools the debate was frenzied with pupils demystifying that insurance is complicated. They were able to articulate the various motions with some well researched evidence which gave judges a tough time.
The first motion was ‘is the media doing enough to educate the public on insurance.’ This was one of the interesting ones for the opposing school as a number of media houses were present in the debate hall.
Students argued that the media is focusing mostly on politics and was not giving much publicity to insurance.
Another interesting motion saw the host, Ndola Girls and Kansenshi Secondary ably tackle the motion “should fire insurance for homes be made compulsory.”
The third motion saw Fatima Girls take on Chiwala under the motion ‘Is public liability insurance essential for all businesses’
One would have expected that this being an unpopular subject pupils would struggle to bring out points and evidence. This was not the case.
Fatima Girls for example who were debating against this motion brought out points such as new technology that necessitates virtual offices where a company does not need to have an office but is able to trade remotely.
The last motion was also an intense one which saw two new participants, Dominican Convent and St. Andrews Secondary schools debate on whether the display of insurance discs will benefit the members of the public.
It seemed this would be a difficult motion because the implementation of the display of these discs will commence on January 1 2016. However the two schools showed that being pupils does not mean they don’t understand nor research.
Another interesting aspect of the event was how the pupils were able to suggest insurance solutions to different scenarios being presented by the coordinator.
For example one student hit against a chair and was almost falling and the moderator asked the audience what type of insurance was applicable in such a case.
They were able to accurately suggest that public liability and group personal accident could cover such incidents.
Another scenario was in a home set up with dad, mum and children staying in their home and had a car.
Pupils were able to suggest appropriate insurance policies such a family could take starting with education for the children, fire insurance for the home and contents, motor insurance for the car, etc.
As we have been advocating on this platform, these students will make a difference in their families and in the nation at large as they now take keen interest in insurance through such debates.
Comments: webster@picz.co.zm or webster_tj@hotmail.com or on face book search for Insurance Talk-Zambia page or call/text 0977 857 055
(The Author is a Chartered Insurer with more than 10 years industry experience)