At 9 a.m. on a cool Saturday morning at Capital International School, one hundred students from fifteen schools gathered to debate whether smoking should be banned in public places. It was the second major tournament of the Veritas Debate League, an initiative led by founder Bryan Cory that has quickly grown into one of Egypt’s most organised and values-driven student debate ecosystems.
The growth was intentional but controlled. “We actually capped it at these numbers,” Cory said, referring to the rising demand from schools across the country. “At this point there is actually more demand than we can accommodate. We are being very careful to have the right size of tournament where the quality of the debate and the quality of the judging stays strong at all levels.”
In a significant milestone, Cory also confirmed that the league’s top teams will soon compete internationally.
“As we speak the top teams from American International School (main campus), Hayah International School, American International School West, Kayan College and Evolution International School are preparing for a tryout with the National Team coaches,” said Cory.
“The chosen team from one of those schools will travel to Kenya to represent Egypt and Veritas in the World Schools Debate Championship.”
Strengthening the judging culture
One of the most significant changes this time was a complete overhaul of the judging system.
“We changed the organization of the judges so that instead of only one judge, there were two judges in each round and they were required to agree on the decision,” Cory explained. Judges were overwhelmingly teachers and school administrators, each of whom completed a mandatory four-hour training and a personal interview before certification.
“What we found is that judges actually appreciated this detailed (and onerous) process because it confirmed for them that they were in fact qualified to judge and also communicated this confidence to the students,” he said. “We did all of this to build up the judge community, share learnings and reinforce that, for Veritas, the judges are the final authority.”
Cory added that Veritas is committed to recognising the teachers who coach debate squads across participating schools. As a gesture of appreciation, the league will host a gathering for coaches at Bibliotek, which offered its space in support of the initiative.
Debate as a tool for character development
While Veritas aims to build a top-tier competitive league, Cory emphasises that its foundation is educational rather than purely competitive.
“Thinking well is thinking well,” he said. “We want students to ponder a motion from all sides, focusing on both the big picture of the clash of ideas and the minutia of the specific wording of a motion.”
Character-building is central to Cory’s vision.
“More fundamentally, we want to offer students a place that is conducive to their overall character development,” he explained. “Debate, of course, is only one piece of this puzzle, but we believe it can play an important role.”
This philosophy has shaped one of the league’s strictest and most distinctive features: its technology rules.
“We have a very strong technology policy that limits the impact of so-called ‘artificial intelligence,’ as well as technology more generally,” Cory said. “This forces students to be attentive and flexible as they listen to the other team’s arguments instead of coming in with pre-planned (or AI-generated) speeches.”
Values like humility, flexibility and risk-taking are woven into the league’s norms. “We have a ‘no tolerance’ policy on complaining and arguing about decisions,” Cory said. “We also celebrate students who have been seen engaging in these kinds of virtuous behaviors by awarding them trophies during the awards ceremony.”
Expanding beyond Cairo
The November tournament showcased a more geographically and academically diverse field.
“We’re very excited that teams from Alexandria have come to both tournaments and done remarkably well,” Cory shared. “In the most recent tournament they took home three of the top eight spots.”
The league also saw strong participation from Language Schools. “Our second place teams for high school and middle school were both from Language Schools,” he noted.
A girls STEM public school also joined for the first time, with another STEM school from Assiut reaching out to express interest. “Thankfully, we are now getting the chance to meet with administrators and teachers from schools of all kinds and are working to onboard them,” Cory said.
Community-powered growth
Cory credits much of Veritas’ momentum to its network of dedicated coaches, judges and volunteers.
“We have extremely dedicated teachers, coaches, judges,” he said. “We asked a lot of them in between the two tournaments, and it’s a real testament to them that they volunteered their time with us.”
He highlighted the contributions of Haitham El-Kady, Hala Ezzeldin, Yousuf ElShorbagy, Sara Hesham, Maryam Tarek, Nada Elmahy, Mustafa Hamam and Habiba Osama.
Veritas is also supported by its sponsor, Concrete Fashion Group. “Their management has taken a really keen interest in Veritas and they check in with me all the time to make sure that we have all we need,” Cory said. “Like all of us, they are very interested to see who will be crowned as the National Team and get to go to Kenya because they have some special things in store for that team.”
Winners of the November tournament
The motion for the latest debate edition was: This house would ban smoking in public places. The debate rounds were overseen by forty certified judges.
In the high school division, the championship title went to Elgarhy, Afify and Hasheesh from AIS West, whose performance placed them at the top of the tournament. They were followed closely by Abouzaid, Hassan and Ibrahim from Alexandria Language in second place, with El-Bedeawi, Abdallah and ElBadawy from Hayah International securing third. The fourth spot was claimed by Taha, Hegazi and Khallaf representing Evolution International, rounding out a competitive field that reflected the growing depth of debate talent across participating schools.
In the middle school division, Alexandria International took first place with the team of Hafez, Eldayrouty and Ahmed. Madinaty Language followed in second through the efforts of Atia, Khairy and Samir, while Hayah International’s team of Abdel Jawad, Tolba and Shalaby captured third. Alexandria Language completed the top four with Abdelaziz, Abd ElRaouf and Hanna, marking another strong showing for Alexandria-based competitors.
The slow but steady rise of a debate culture
Cory believes debate culture in Egypt is developing organically and sustainably.
“Since we don’t make any money doing this, then provided that there is a dedicated group of students from different schools and different kinds of schools, we are going to be very pleased whether this is 10 students or 2000,” he said.
He recognises natural barriers to wider adoption. “There is nothing exactly like [competitive debate] and so it takes time for its concepts to seep into the vernacular and experience of the judges and students.”
Yet the signals are encouraging. “Each time we have an event, we have more attendees than expected,” Cory said. “I’ve already had parents tell me that they are working to convince their kid that debate isn’t the whole world. If that is the kind of problem we are facing, I think it means that we have made it to a good spot.”
The next major event will be held on 11 December at the American University in Cairo, hosted by the philosophy department. “Dr. habil. Alessandro R. R. Topa and Wassim Sabry will each be presenting on a philosophical topic,” Cory said. The day will conclude with a showcase debate where students will judge Cory and three members of the Veritas team.
The event at AUC will feature the top six high school debate teams. In 2026, more tournaments are planned, including on 7 February 2026 at El Alsson and on 25 April 2026 at Metropolitan.
This is just the beginning for Veritas and debate culture in Egypt. As Cory put it: “Generally, if we have these 15 schools and 100 students regularly practicing debate, with regular training and regular tournaments then it is just a matter of time before debate in Egypt takes on a life of its own.”
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