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Shiv Nadar School MUN: From Classroom Debates to Global Forums

At Shiv Nadar School, debate is not confined to classroom walls. For our students, raising a hand in class is just the first step toward raising their voices on the global stage. MUN at Shiv Nadar School embodies this spirit. In this year’s conferences, students stepped into the shoes of diplomats, journalists, and policymakers, and discovered how their words could shape the world. Read along for glimpses into the two days; moments of collaboration, negotiation, and reflection that show what student voice looks like in action.

Morning: A Seat at the Table

The day begins with students filing into the conference hall, placards in hand, countries assigned. Some glance at their opening notes for the tenth time. Others trade nervous smiles. A Grade 9 student who once hesitated to speak up in English class now sits as the delegate of India in the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), preparing to raise concerns about cross-border drug trafficking. As the student newsletter reported, the Indian delegate “called for greater international intelligence cooperation, with the looming threat of a strengthening link between drugs and terrorism”.

Another student, representing a country, pores over briefing papers on anti-corruption reforms. The session is about narcoterrorism, a subject that pushes teenagers to think about how crime, politics, and global security intersect. Delegates quickly realise that their voices matter. Not because they can recite a polished speech, but because they are expected to take a stand, however imperfect.

And yet, the room is not uniformly confident. Some students speak assertively, but many remain tentative. Chairs keep the momentum alive. “The chair’s help is undoubtedly tethering this committee, with their constant encouragement of those who seem hesitant to speak up,” noted one journalist. A quiet delegate finally raises a point of information; voice unsteady but resolute. It may not make headlines, but in that moment, the step itself is the victory.

Midday: Learning to Listen

As debates heat up, it becomes clear that effective leadership is not about speaking the loudest. In UNEP sessions on climate-smart agriculture, delegates from Chad and Bangladesh share stories of small farmers facing food insecurity. One observer recorded, “It is the countries with comparatively lower incomes who talk about how they are managing taxes and trying to employ technology to advance their economy”.

For many students, this is the first time they have encountered how inequality shapes international conversations. The debate turns when a delegate from Bangladesh shares a story about rural farmers losing entire harvests to unpredictable floods. A hush settles over the hall. The lesson is not lost: listening to data, to perspectives, to lived experiences, is just as powerful as speaking.

Some delegates dominate the floor, while others take a moment to gather their thoughts. With each prompt from the dais, more hands rise, and new voices join the conversation. One student later reflected that every contribution, no matter how tentative at first, was part of the learning, a reminder that confidence and conviction grow with practice.

Afternoon: Writing the World

By the afternoon, resolution writing takes over. Laptops glow across the room as blocs gather, words flying faster than fingers can type. Here, the energy shifts. Students who were quiet in debate find their rhythm in negotiation.

A Grade 10 delegate reflects: “Every word counts when you’re drafting resolutions.” It is not an exaggeration. For twenty minutes, two countries lock horns over a single verb: should the resolution “urge” or “demand”? The students realised that international peace depends not on “grand speeches” but on “cooperation, openness, and technology-enabled enforcement”. One student laughs that they “forgot which country I am today,” a moment that brings smiles across the room and reminds everyone that even in intense debate, learning can be fun.” Resolution writing becomes equal parts frustration and discovery. Students learn that compromise is less about winning points than about staying at the table long enough to shape the outcome.

Evening: From Debate to Reflection

As sessions wind down, the International Press Corps rushes to file stories. Their work is not just documentation. It is a critique. One report described “the fiery exchanges, the breakthroughs, the silences that said as much as words”. Another noted how ambition was transforming into action, recognising that delegates were finding ways to bring their ideas to life with growing confidence.

For the first-time delegates, it can feel uncomfortable to see their work dissected. Yet this is where another dimension of voice emerges. It is the power to write, to analyse, to hold peers accountable. The press corner, tucked away at the back of the hall, becomes a reminder that every word has an audience, and every debate, however simulated, is also a performance.

Beyond the Conference: Habits of Voice

Back in their classrooms, the skills acquired at MUN do not vanish with the placards. Students carry them into interdisciplinary projects and personal reflections. A student working on media bias realises she is asking the same questions she asked as a journalist at MUN: Who benefits from this narrative? Who is left out?

Others take with them the dilemmas and discussions they navigated in committees. Those debates may have ended with draft resolutions, but the questions they raise linger in the lunchroom, in project work, in the corridors.

Whether analysing political cartoons in Individuals and Societies or planning a model island in Geography and Math, students practise the same habits that make them effective MUN delegates: inquiry, reflection, and the courage to speak.

Why It Matters

MUN is about cultivating a lifelong habit of voice. The newsletters themselves, written by students for students, show that voice is not always triumphant. It can be critical, hesitant, or even contradictory. But it is present.

One student journalist wrote: “MUN is where ideas meet action.” Another warned that diplomacy without passion risks becoming performance. Between these lines lies the heart of the experience. Voice is not given. It is practised.

From classroom discussions to international forums, our students learn that democracy, diplomacy, and even day-to-day collaboration depend on respectful yet assertive dialogue. The MUN may last two days, but the skills, confidence, and perspectives students gain continue to shape how they engage with the world.