Asia Education Foundation: Youth Leader Forums

The Youth Leaders Forum is supported by the Victorian Department of Education and Training, delivered by Asia Education Foundation and High Resolves. The program is a three part learning program, designed to deepen our understanding of what it means to be a global citizen and provide opportunities to develop our leadership skills. Considering different global perspectives and applying knowledge and skills to solve problems, we had to draw upon the themes of global citizenship, identity and purpose. We were presented with different guest speakers, from Ruby Brooke, a TEDTalk presenter, and a guest panel of Youth Multicultural Centre speakers.

During the pre-forum, we met students from around the world from countries such as China, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Japan. Personally, we had the honour of being matched with a school called SMA from Indonesia. It was truly an incredible experience as we discussed their school life before and after COVID. We connected with them immediately and were impressed by their fluency in English too! The experience was really great for all of us and enabled us to become more informed global citizens, while making some friends on the way!

Additionally, The Young Leaders Forum enlightened us on the circumstances faced by students across the world particularly during the global pandemic. We were fascinated by the similarities and differences in our education systems and daily routines as well as the different challenges faced by students overseas.

Not only was this Forum an opportunity for like minded students to discuss global issues that we were all passionate about, it was also truly, a one of a kind experience and something we are all grateful to have been selected for. 

Anjali, Jennis, Aditi, Amna & Lochana (Year 9)