UN Youth Victoria has been regularly monitoring and acting upon developments surrounding COVID-19. As a result of stage 4 lockdown, UN Youth Victoria shifted their programs and competitions to an online format, so students could continue to engage in important topics that affect them. This has included Voice, our public speaking competition for Year 7 to 12s and Evatt, our Model UN competition for Year 9-12s. The Evatt competition has started, with rounds being run most weekends of August. The Victorian division engaged 150 teams, so 300 students, in Evatt this year.
Upcoming they have the Global Affairs Forum. This is an opportunity for students between year 10-12 to interact directly with universities. The day includes a Q&A session, multiple speakers including Bob Carr. There is a focus on international relations, politics and policy centric degrees.
Given students cannot visit university campuses or open days, this is a fantastic opportunity for all students, but particularly regional students.
Students undergoing remote learning are more isolated than ever. We have had feedback from teachers specifically enthused about our events and how they have been opportunities for students to enrich their learning during this time of remote learning. This represents to us the value of continuing to innovate, research and create events for students.
About COVID-19.
The head of the World Health Organisation told the United Nations that COVID-19, the formal name for the new coronavirus, was a global pandemic. This means that it’s a contagious, dangerous disease, which is currently spreading quickly and sometimes uncontrollably.
Health experts say the most important thing we can all do right now is to stay home if we’re feeling unwell.
We can all help minimise the spread of COVID-19 to our communities.
The other actions you should take right now are:
– Wash your hands thoroughly and frequently,
– Cough or sneeze into your elbow, or a tissue,
– Avoid large gatherings of people.
UN Youth Australia encourages all to follow the guidelines provided by the Department of Health and the Public Health Information hotline at all stages for guidance.
About UN Youth Victoria.
UN Youth Victoria is an educational not-for-profit that focuses on empowering young people and educating students about world affairs and politics in order to give young people the support they need to create change.
