Curro Delft learners find their voice on South Africa’s debating stage

There is something profoundly moving about watching young people discover they have something worth saying – and realising they have every right to say it with confidence.

What began as a modest after-school gathering has grown into something remarkable. Curro Delft’s debating society had no external mentors, no formal training programmes, and limited resources – yet teachers and learners learned as they went, building something from nothing. Today, those same learners stand on national stages, their voices ringing with authority and conviction.

The achievements speak for themselves: champions of the Climate Change School Debate Competition; first place at the Western Cape Interschool Debate; and qualification for the 2025 High School National Debating Championship at Danville Girls’ High School in Durban, where they will compete against the top school teams from across South Africa’s local leagues.

They rank second in their division, behind one of Cape Town’s most prestigious private schools. In the preliminary rounds of the National Debating League, Curro Delft produced the best speaker in every single round. From ninth place last year to second this year, their rise has been nothing short of outstanding. They have gone up against the likes of Bishops Diocesan College, Herzlia High School, Edgemead High School and Milnerton High School, to name a few. But numbers and trophies, impressive as they are, tell only half the story.

Listen instead to the learners themselves. “I’ve always been afraid of public speaking, worried about being judged,” one admits. “But debating has taught me it’s not only about overcoming fear – it’s about rising to challenges and working under pressure.” Another, a Grade 8 newcomer to the school, marvels at representing Curro Delft ‘on such a large scale’ so soon after arriving. “It truly means so much to me.”

What emerges from their words is something more valuable than any trophy cabinet: the transformation of uncertainty into confidence, silence into eloquence, isolation into community. “There’s no prejudice or discrimination, it’s supportive and inclusive,” one learner reflects on her school. “It’s beautiful.”

This is what education should look like. Not the rote memorisation of facts, but the cultivation of courage. Not the passive absorption of information, but the active discovery of one’s own voice, coupled with the realisation that it matters. As part of the Curro DigiEd Schools network, Curro Delft embodies this philosophy through its innovative, technology-rich approach to learning. With limited class sizes, project-based learning emphasising science, mathematics and technology, and a focus on developing 21st-century skills such as collaboration and self-discipline, the school prepares learners for a technology-driven future while maintaining high academic standards, creating an environment where debating societies can flourish alongside digital innovation.

For a naturally loud student, debating became a way to channel that energy positively, to represent the school with pride rather than apology. For the shy and uncertain, it became a revelation: “I’ve discovered new strengths within myself.”

Debating teaches what cannot be learned from textbooks: how to think critically under pressure, how to articulate complex ideas with clarity, how to listen genuinely before responding, how to disagree without demeaning. These are not merely academic skills – they are the foundations of citizenship in a country that needs more thoughtful, articulate, courageous voices.

Ruan Beukes, Executive Head of Curro Delft High School, reflects on their journey: “Our learners’ journey shows what becomes possible when they are given space to discover their voice and the courage to use it. In just over a year, they have grown from a small after-school group to the national stage. They have not simply mastered the rules of debating – they have learned something far more important: that their voices deserve to be heard.”