About

To promote the concepts of equal opportunities and raise awareness of the four anti-discrimination ordinances among the new generation, the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) organised the inaugural Equal Opportunity Cup Inter-school Debate Competition in the 2024/25 academic year, which received positive responses from the education sector. As one of the flagship youth programmes of the EOC to engage secondary students, the EOC will organise the second edition of the Debate Competition in the 2025/26 academic year to sustain the momentum and continue to engage the younger generation.

The aim of this competition is to provide inspiring opportunities for young people to learn about the current situation of equal opportunities in Hong Kong, and to engage in deeper reflection and understanding of various topics related to equal opportunities and anti-discrimination. The EOC hopes to leverage the debate competition to raise public awareness of the four anti-discrimination ordinances, including the Sex Discrimination Ordinance, Disability Discrimination Ordinance, Family Status Discrimination Ordinance, and Race Discrimination Ordinance, to eliminate discriminatory attitudes and promote the values of equality, diversity and inclusion.

1. All secondary schools or international schools registered with the Education Bureau are eligible to participate in the competition. Each participating school can send one team to take part in the competition, and participants of each team must be students at that school during the competition.
2. Each participating school must:
   • Appoint at least one qualified mentor (such as someone with experience in debate or language teaching) to serve as an adjudicator for the 1 ^st Preliminary to the 4 ^th Round of competition;
   • Provide a competition venue for at least one day, which must include rooms/school auditorium for the competitions, a judges’ lounge, and two preparation rooms for the use of both the affirmative and negative teams;
   • Once the mentors appointed by the participating schools are confirmed by the Organiser and arranged to serve as adjudicators for the competition on the designated day, they must attend punctually. If they are unable to attend due to special reasons, they must notify the Organiser three days before the competition and provide a substitute mentor to fulfill the adjudicating role;
   • Each team should consist of 4 to 10 members, with 4 serving as formal representatives of the school for the competition and 1 to 6 members serving as standbys;
   • Each team should be led by a coach who will also act as the coordinator and be responsible for the communication between the team and the organiser.

1. The competition will be conducted in Cantonese and on a knockout basis. Participation is limited to 48 teams. The winning teams of each round of the competition are qualified for the next round of the competition. If the number of applications exceeds the participation quota, the participating schools will be selected through a draw.
2. The competition will be conducted in 6 rounds comprising 48 matches in total. In the 4 ^th Round, six teams will compete for four places in the Semi-final (fifth round). Three winning teams and one losing team with the best performance will advance to the Semi-final. The adjudicators will determine which of the losing teams will be promoted to the Semi-final based on their performances in the 4 ^th Round.
3. The competition slots and debate motions for each team will be arranged and decided by the Organiser. Participating teams may not object or make modifications on their own. The assignment of teams to affirmative and opposite sides will be determined by a draw conducted by the Organiser. The tentative schedule for the competition period is as follows:
   1 ^st Preliminary

   1 (Sun) or 8 (Sun) February 2026

   2 ^nd Preliminary

   8 March 2026 (Sun)

   3 ^rd Round

   21 March 2026 (Sat)

   4 ^th Round

   11 April 2026 (Sat)

   Semi-final

   25 April 2026 (Sat)

   Grand Final cum Award Ceremony

   9 (Sat) or 17 (Sun) May 2026 (tentative)
4. Arrangements for late arrival or absence: a team will be disqualified if it is late by 15 minutes or more on the day of the competition; its opponent will automatically advance to the next round.
5. The Organiser reserves the right and authority to invite anyone to serve as adjudicators, advisors, and chairperson in the competition.
6. All participating schools and teams will be invited to attend the Grand Final cum Award Ceremony to be held in May 2026.