There is a whole crowd of youngsters powering through riveting debates as colleges in the city now host Mock United Nations conferences. Mock United Nations or MUNs as they are popularly known, have been around for long enough and young students are going all out with challenging and political debates.
These two or three day conferences see them participating in true blue sessions much like the meetings in the United Nations. The students form committees similar to the ones in the UN like General Assembly, Security Council etc. They represent various countries and have to be informed of the country’s political agendas, strategies for growth as well as the country’s historical and political stance. The chosen topic for the conference will have them pitch in ideas and improve the nation’s already existing political scenario, with the help of the different committees. A resolution at the end of two days of discussion is constructed to be a probable solution to a problem.
Sucheta Sarogi a student at CMS Jain University says, “It has helped youngsters to develop in public speaking. A lot of research work goes into an MUN and it really enhances the way you speak. The arguments that you pose have to be from a credible source. You have to be diplomatic and use a formal language. The connections that you establish with people are massive as well.”
MUNs are notorious for the rather impressive bunch of public speakers it builds. Pranamya Sequeira, a finance major at Alliance University got into MUNs when she was just in the eighth grade and has since seen a drastic improvement in the way she speaks. “I learnt about things I couldn’t even have imagined knowing. Beyond what we see, there’s a lot happening within a city, and across the world. For the past six years, I’ve dedicated myself to getting to know more about the world. MUNs have also become about networking beyond research and I’ve genuinely developed a passion for it.”
Besides looking cool in formal suits, MUNs have also helped these students establish solid connections and build important contacts amongst themselves. Zain Sharrif, an engineering graduate from Christ University has been chairing MUNs at schools and created the MUN society in his college. “As engineers, we broke the taboo of us not being able to speak. The debating circles in Bengaluru are extremely good, and you wouldn’t recognise a school student from a college student because they are that good. At a MUN you represent a country and are discussing real time problems. It’s not a hypothetical situation and it’s quite useful as it changes the mindset of people.”
