Sandra Ramachandran at a QatarDebate function.
Doha: Each year, thousands of students from schools across Qatar participate in Qatar Foundation’s (QF) community classes, summer camps, workshops, debates, sporting competitions, and events such as The Hague International Model United Nations (THIMUN) Qatar. And their experiences have helped to shape their lives.
Among them, an aspiring medical student, Aisha Al Hammadi, Grade 12 student at Doha British School (DBS), took part in various programs at QF partner university Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q). It included Healing Hands program, the Pre-College Enrichment Program and Qatar Aspiring Doctors Program – all of which cemented her desire to be a physician.
But the greatest change-maker in her life, according to her, was her first participation in THIMUN Qatar, which is organised by QF’s Pre-University Education,
“Until the first time I took part in THIMUN Qatar, I didn’t even know that I had leadership qualities or effective communication skills,” said the 17-year-old, who is now the press secretary for DBS’ Model United Nations (MUN). “In fact, I was intimidated by my first THIMUN. At the same time, watching others taught me that if I truly wanted to change lives around me, I needed to get out of my comfort zone.
“So, during my second participation in THIMUN Qatar, I made a point of being more assertive and proactive. The event also made me aware of global issues; how important they are and how, even as students, each one of us have a responsibility to society.”
“I want to study medicine at WCM-Q. And in summer, I also look forward to joining a biotechnology program at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q), also a QF partner university,” she said.
James McDonald, DBS’ Vice-Principal, directs the school’s MUN program, and said that QF through its training programs has helped to cultivate a culture of high expectations and achievement among the youth in Qatar.
Another example of the extent of QF’s outreach is Delhi Public School – Modern Indian School (DPS-MIS). Its students regularly attend the camps, courses and pre-university sessions organised by CMU-Q, WCM-Q, and fellow QF partner university Texas A&M University at Qatar.
DPS-MIS middle or high school students have benefit so much from the events organised by QF member QatarDebate, and THIMUN Qatar. Such is the interest created by the two initiatives that almost 400 of the school’s students apply to participate in them each year.
For the past five years, DPS-MIS has sent one of the largest contingents of any school in Qatar around 100 students to each THIMUN Qatar event. Likewise, since 2009 when it began participating in QatarDebate the school’s teams have been champions in a majority of those nine years. And QF also invited DPS-MIS to participate in QatarDebate’s university league – the only school to be invited to do so.
Jaya Majumder heads the QatarDebate training at DPS-MIS and she said, “Traditionally, students from India choose science subjects, or commerce and business streams, for their higher secondary and university studies,” said Majumder. “However, we’ve noticed that some of our students who have attended QatarDebate or THIMUN Qatar, and debated on global issues, show an interest in humanities subjects such as economics and political science.”
Sandra Ramachandran is one of them and a prime example of how QF’s cycle of influence moves beyond Qatar, and out into the world. A few years ago, like her classmates, Ramachandran had decided to pursue a career in either engineering or healthcare but her first participation in QatarDebate opened up a whole new world of possibilities for her.
“I knew I would be swimming against the tide, when compared to my peers, if I decided to study humanities in higher secondary and at university, but that’s how QF transforms you; it empowers you to believe in yourself and follow your heart,” she said.
Unable to find an Indian high school in Qatar that could cater to her new-found interest in political science, she chose to move to India for her Grade 11 and 12 studies.
The ball of change that QF set in motion in her life, however, didn’t stop rolling with that re-location. Missing the debating sessions she had in Doha, and the global perspective they gave her, she helped to organise a debating club and the first MUN event in her new school. Now, as a Grade 11 student in India, she trains fellow students in the art of debate.
