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Last weekend our Model United Nations team were proud to host the first Regional online MUN conference for schools from Nord Anglia Education South East Asia and Middle East region. With a wide geographic range, navigating time zones and technology posed several challenges, but our leadership team rose to the occasion and produced as close to a face-to-face event as possible.
This year’s conference theme was Sustainable Solutions, and the four committees of the General Assembly, Environmental, UNESCO, and the Human Rights Council got to grips with key issues and enjoyed some successful, diplomatic debates.
Students from our sister-schools in Thailand, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, and Vietnam joined the conference via Microsoft Teams, with this being the first ever MUN conference for some of the delegates. They were undeterred by the online platform, confidently making speeches, drafting resolutions, debating through POIs, and finally passing some important ideas. Collaborating in MUN events enables our students to showcase their communication and critical thinking skills, whilst developing diplomacy, collaboration, an understanding of international relations, and some life-long friendships.
“It was a really great opportunity for our students to debate with their peers from across the region, and I was really impressed with how well they all managed to rise to the occasion. They were faced with some challenging topics, and the added barrier of debating online rather than in real committees, but ultimately they were very successful in thinking around the topics, devising solutions, and constructively debating to find consensus.”
- Daniel Gamwell, MUN Coordinator
Here, our student committee chairs share a summary of their debates.
Human Rights Council
The Human Rights Council debated on three topics of global significance in NAEMUN 2021: the ongoing political situation in Hong Kong, tackling child related gang-violence and addressing the issue of child migrants and their rights to citizenship. Delegates demonstrated a high level of professionalism during lobbying, making effective use of their time to discuss and draft resolutions. Moreover, despite the fact that some delegates were not aware of the MUN rules of procedure at the start of the debate, the majority of the house was very engaged in the debate and made meaningful contributions, making speeches and amendments to reflect their country’s stance and to try to improve the resolution. The inputs of the delegates of Israel (Jieun Choi from BIS Abu Dhabi) and Russia (Arisu Babakhani from BIS HCMC), who were awarded Best Delegate and Most Diplomatic respectively, were especially remarkable. The chairs would like to thank all delegates for their active participation despite the difficulties posed by online communication and hope that everyone enjoyed NAEMUN 2021!
SoYoung Park & Soo Min Ryu - Chairs
General Assembly
Though we had been chairs for a while, the NAEMUN 2021 was the first experience that Yu Gyeong and I had as chairs in a conference. We were both especially nervous as we were not used to conducting MUN in an online environment. We faced several issues from the beginning as we struggled to get our heads around using Microsoft Teams for the first time, and many of us struggled with internet connectivity.
However, we were met with overwhelming enthusiasm and positivity from the delegates; even though it was the first conference experience for many of the delegates in the General Assembly, they were all extremely keen and motivated to try their best throughout the couple days. As chairs, we truly appreciate everyone’s efforts to participate and speak at least once. Although we were unable to be physically present together, we still felt extremely connected with every single delegate.
To conclude, the NAEMUN 2021 was an unforgettable experience and we hope to be able to participate again.
Yu Gyeong Kang & Jung Min Oh - Chairs
Environmental Commission
“The Environmental Commission debated on three alarming topics: the situation in the Amazon Basin, sustainable farming and consumption of meat and dairy, and prevention of antibiotic resistance and resulting global pandemics. With a total of 44 speeches and 106 POIs over the course of two days, the delegates were actively engaged. Due to the constructive amendments, all resolutions were able to pass. Although there were inexperienced delegates, they were not hesitant to ask questions; they challenged themselves and maintained their passion throughout the debate.
There were some technical difficulties on the first day of the conference, such as dividing the committee into groups within the call and tracking who ‘raised’ their hand. However, we have eventually overcome the technical difficulties — asking delegates who wish to deliver speeches or ask POIs to write their delegations on the chat, for example. Ultimately the delegates were able to have a fruitful debate.”
Chae Yeon Ryu & SeoHyun Yang - Chairs
Overall
Congratulations to the following delegates who were recognised for particular achievements in their committees, as well as all of those who won superlatives.
| Category | ENV | GA | HRC | UNESCO |
| Best Delegate |
France BIS Hanoi Min Seo (Heidy) Cho |
Canada BVIS Luong An Khang (Willy) |
Israel BIS Abu Dhabi Jieun Choi |
Brazil BIS HCMC Nini Pham |
| Best Speaker |
ROK BIS HCMC Philip Vuu |
Pakistan Regents Pattaya Suhani Verma |
N/A |
USA |
| Most Diplomatic |
India BIS HCMC Duc Huynh |
Argentina C BVIS Chau Anh |
Russia BIS HCMC Arisu Babakhani |
Turkey BIS HCMCJenny Nguyen |
A huge thank you to all of the students involved in organising this event and to Mr Gamwell, our MUN coordinator, for continuing with an online conference even when we cannot travel to be together. This conference was a fantastic way for our students to connect with those from other NAE schools across the region.
Lauren Binnington
Deputy Headteacher Enrichment
Regional UNICEF and Social Impact Lead for South East Asia and the Middle East
Joining BIS HCMC in Foundation Stage 2 (F2) is a fantastic age to begin a lifetime love for learning, encouraged and nurtured by our experienced and committed class and specialist teachers, who personalise learning unique to every child. We look back at what our F2s have experienced in less than one term already at BIS HCMC.
We are incredibly proud of our Year 11 class of 2024, for their impressive IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education) results. This incredible cohort of 155 students, our largest IGCSE class in the history of the school, have significantly surpassed UK and international averages and were awarded 97% of all grades at A*-C. An incredible 62% of all grades awarded were at A*-A.