Student mentors ‘can inspire young orators’

University students were today urged to help inspire London’s primary school children with the confidence to speak in public.

Undergraduates have the power to change the lives of thousands of children but are a vast untapped resource, the charity Debate Mate said.

The organisation, which encourages state school pupils to learn public speaking skills through a series of formal debates, today put out a plea for university students to join them in boosting social mobility in the city.

Former barrister Margaret McCabe, CEO of Debate Mate, said: “I set up the charity because if you are born poor you are likely to die poor, and I wanted to change that.” She added: “University students are our secret weapon.”

Children from the poorest schools, some of whom cannot read or write properly, are given coaching to help take part. The charity runs courses of 16 weeks, at the end of which pupils take part in competitive debates. Some children are introduced to the after-school club after being put in detention.

Tina Bouffet became a mentor at Ravenscroft Primary school in Newham last year. The 19-year-old UCL student said: “There was a girl in my class who would not even say her name for the first three weeks, but by the end she was the best speaker I had ever had.” This term’s clubs start next month.