Tomasa Hernández, the Regional Minister of Education, Culture, and Sports of Aragón, opened the competition at the British School of Aragón.
Zaragoza, January 23, 2026 – The British School of Aragon has kicked off a new edition of the CICAE-UCJC Debate League, the school debate tournament with the highest participation in Europe. The event featured a special opening ceremony presided over by Tomasa Hernández, the Aragon Regional Government’s Minister of Education, Culture, and Sports, who joined the school’s principal, Miguel Cendegui, in opening the academic conference.
During her remarks, the councilor highlighted the importance of this type of initiative for the Aragonese education system, emphasizing that critical thinking and public speaking are essential cross-curricular skills for 21st-century citizens. Tomasa Hernández highlighted the role of Zaragoza as the host city for an event that brings together talent from across the country.
In this edition, the students tackled a challenge of great geopolitical significance, debating whether European countries should substantially increase their military spending, even if that means cutting other budget items. A total of 70 teams were evaluated by a panel of 40 judges who are experts in public speaking. The format of the tournament required participants to defend positions they had not known until just minutes before each debate, which demanded objective, rigorous, and evidence-based analysis.
The teams do not know whether they will be assigned to the “for” or “against” side until the draw held before the debate, which forces them to prepare for all positions in order to broaden their knowledge and maintain an open mind. This premise is key to fostering critical thinking and acceptance of the diversity of opinions generated by a current issue as complex as the one that kicked off this tournament.
During the debates, the teams advocating for increased military spending argued that these measures are necessary to ensure national sovereignty, strengthen Europe’s collective defense against new global threats, and fulfill international security commitments.
For their part, opponents warned that prioritizing military spending could lead to a rollback of social rights, contradicting values of well-being and cooperation, as well as diverting essential resources from areas such as education and health care, which are fundamental to internal stability.
After two intense days of competition, the LOL Caracol team from Colegio San Patricio El Soto claimed victory in the Spanish category following a hard-fought final. In this category, the award for best female speaker went to Nuria Quero of the Hijo de Fergus, Brains La Moraleja team. In the English category, the team “The Hero’s” from SEK-Catalunya took first place, while the award for best speaker went to Oliwier, a member of the winning team.
A training project
All participants in the Debate League, students between 3rd ESO and 2nd of Bachillerato, are trained throughout the course by experts in competitive debate and world champions in debate and public speaking, such as Antonio Fabregat and Javier de la Puerta, or the current world champion, Alberto García Chaparro. In addition, webinars are organized during the course to deepen the topics to be discussed and bibliography is provided so that they can advance in their preparation.
The practice of debate among schoolchildren is aimed at developing public speaking skills, teamwork, as well as the search for truthful information, the analysis of evidence or the definition of arguments on the issue to be addressed.
The Debate League promoted by the Association of Private and Independent Schools – CICAE and the Camilo José Cela University, is joined each year by schools that are committed to give prominence to debate in their classrooms, and there are 40 schools throughout Spain that are part of the initiative.
