With COVID-19 precautionary measures in mind, the MUN, which lasted around 7 hours, was filled with heated debates, speeches and presentations for which preparations had begun a couple of months ago. All students present gave both introductive opening speeches, to introduce their delegation during the call to order, as well as argumentative speeches to persuade and convince the rest of the model General Assembly to vote for their different resolutions in order to achieve their respective goals.  Apart from the students’ involvement, the MUN was also graced by the presence of the guest speaker, Father Godfrey Nzamujo, the founder of the Songhai Centre in Porto-Novo and a Dominican priest. His presentation on Preventing Religious Conflicts and Wars was one that immensely helped students to gain foresight into the topic, and how this topic could be implemented into real-life situations.

The entire event was organised by the presiding officers, namely, Marc-Alain Adjahi, President of the General Assembly, Jean-Samuel Dassi, Vice-President of the General Assembly and Peemann Kaur, Chair of the General Assembly. In relation to the proceedings of the actual UN, the event was divided into four different quarters, with each quarter being followed by the voting for the resolutions of all the delegations present in that specific quarter. A lot of effort was put into the presentation of the resolutions by the students, and just like any other UN summit, some resolutions were much more readily passed than others. Delegations that were successful in passing their resolutions included Palestine, Brazil, Nigeria, Congo, Romania, Turkey, USA, UK and Russia, while countries such as Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Columbia, China and Afghanistan were, unfortunately, unable to pass their own resolutions.

Not only did this event help students to boost and enhance their public speaking and debating skills, but it also provided them with the opportunity to research and learn more about the international relations between different countries in the United Nations, with respect to their respective ideological and political standings.

A word from Marc-Alain Adjahi, President of the Student Council:

“The MUN experience was very refreshing, as it was a change from the various confinements and limitations that we had in place due to the COVID pandemic. A lot of effort went into the preparations, and the participation of the student body was highly appreciated in making this a success. I would like to thank in particular the Student Council, along with all the other helpers who aided in making this event possible, including the school administration, which enabled us to carry it out. I sincerely believe that this MUN tremendously benefited the students of EIS by allowing us to develop and express our ideas and opinions, while pushing us into honing our public speaking and diplomatic skills - all of which are essential for academic life. We are the future leaders of our generation, and this MUN has provided us with another opportunity to work on our required skill sets so as to achieve our individual goals in prospective endeavours.”