GFS Legacy Debates
Arguments fade. Ideas leave a legacy. The flagship debate event of GEMS Founders School — built by students, for speakers.
About the event
A stage for ideas that outlast their speakers.
GFS Legacy Debates is the flagship debate event of GEMS Founders School, Dubai — a student-led forum where rigorous argument meets genuine respect for the other side. It brings together speakers from across the Emirates to contest the questions that deserve contesting.
More than a competition, Legacy Debates is an exercise in clarity, preparation and nerve. Speakers research, build, defend and concede — learning to listen as carefully as they speak, and to hold their ground without holding it blindly.
Whether you are stepping up to your first motion or returning as a seasoned finalist, the event offers the same thing: a serious stage, honest adjudication, and an audience that came to be persuaded.
Est. GEMS Founders School
The experience
What a round asks of you
Speak
Hold the floor. Build a case that stands on its own logic — clarity carries further than volume.
Challenge
Find the weakest beam in the strongest argument. Question the premise everyone else accepted.
Defend
Stand your ground under pressure. Concede the point that deserves conceding — and no other.
Leave a legacy
The round ends; the idea doesn't have to. Say something that stays in the room after you leave it.
From the President
The argument begins
before you arrive.
Debate is where ideas meet different perspectives. It encourages us to question, listen, think critically, and see beyond our own point of view.
GFS Legacy Debates is a space built around meaningful discussion, confident expression, and the belief that every voice has something valuable to contribute.
Through debate, we learn not only how to speak, but how to listen, challenge ideas respectfully, and engage with the world around us. It is about curiosity and the courage to ask questions; because sometimes, the most powerful thing you can do is simply start a conversation.
At a glance
Event information
24 October 2026, at GEMS Founders School, Dubai.
Date
24 October 2026
GEMS Founders School, Dubai.
Venue
GEMS Founders School
Dubai.
Eligibility
To be confirmed
Speaker eligibility will be announced.