Zero Hour is a series of inter-school debate competitions culminating in a Grand Finale.

Notebook, an online ed-tech platform providing digital content to more than 8 lakh students, has started an initiative 'Together for Education' which aims to bring people together on one platform online in India and abroad. Under this initiative, Notebook brings Zero Hour: India’s Largest Public Speaking Event for School Students, The hunt for the nation’s most promising public speaking talent. This was inspired and encouraged by the phenomenal success of the 'Together for Education' webinars and on request from institutions to engage with students directly. The webinars which are conducted twice a week for the past two months have already garnered more than 6000 participants and more than 100 speakers globally. Speaking for this event, Achin Bhattacharyya, CEO and Founder of Notebook said, “Students in India have a wide array of capabilities and we believe at this juncture of uncertainties, we must provide a platform for students to believe in their capabilities. Through this event, we aim to give opportunities to students so that they can hone their oratory and research skills.”

Zero Hour is a series of inter-school debate competitions culminating in a Grand Finale. 64 schools across the country and from abroad will be shortlisted for the preliminary round. Of these, 8 schools will proceed to the Quarter Finals. Winners of 4 quarter finals will participate in 2 Semi-finals and the subsequent winners will face off in the Finals. Every day of the event, there will be an award for Best Speaker of the Day. This is the largest competitive public speaking event ever held for schools in India, and schools have a chance to pit themselves against the best speakers from other schools from the farthest reaches of the country.

Every participating school has to send a team of two students and one teacher wherein two students will be speakers while the teacher will be part of the adjudicating bench. Schools can decide to send the same or different teams for each round. The participating students should be aged 14-18 years old as on 30th June 2020. The participants can use any language they desire however, their argument needs to be explained in English. Schools must submit their entries on or before 8th July 2020 to [email protected]. Notebook team will release the schedule on 14th July 2020.