In many ways, the health protocols that have been put in place to restrict the spread of the Covid-19 virus have limited and restricted our everyday activities. For the students of the lycée MUN Debating Club however, the switch to online communications has opened up opportunities to meet with students far across the world.
On 16th January 2021, club members "met" with young people at the Nazarbayev Intellectual School of Biology and Chemistry in Aktau, Kazakhstan, to debate on the topic of Access to the COVID-19 vaccine and the necessity for international cooperation between scientific, industrial, and national entities. The event was organised and run by the students themselves, with technical support provided by the Anglophone Section. Mr Miller reports that the event "has enabled the students to develop their debating skills as well as their general knowledge and understanding of global issues". The debate was heralded a great success by students and the club members are looking forward to organising more virtual events in the future with students from other schools in the MUN network: another online debate has been scheduled for 30th January with students of the Lyons Township High School in the US.
Both the collège and lycée Model United Nations Debating Clubs have continued to meet weekly throughout the year. Moving online has allowed the maximum number of students to continue to take part, which has been a great way to maintain social contact despite the ongoing restrictions at school. Both clubs are run by elected student members and supervised by Mr Rattos (lycée) and Ms Doggart (collège). Any students wishing to join the Clubs will be very welcome to do so, and should contact the teachers in the first instance.