Understanding youth and student engagement in education decision-making

How far are we from truly empowering youth voices in education?  We are expanding our efforts to find out. The GEM Report is working to understand meaningful youth and student engagement in education legislation and policymaking globally. If you are a student or youth organization from one of these categories:

1. National Youth Councils 
2. Youth Advisory Bodies 
3. School student organizations 
4. University student organizations  

... or any other national or umbrella organizations that are directly involved in education policy making at the country level, we want to hear from you and invite you to complete a survey and add your voice to this global effort. 

Where did this initiative originate?

In September 2022, the UN’s Transforming Education Summit launched a worldwide push to rethink and improve education, with young people at the center of the discussion. The UN Secretary-General called for young people – with their ideas, experiences, and energy – to lead the way on education.  

At the Summit, youth from all over the world made some clear demands in the Youth Declaration: 

1. Be heard and included: Young people – in all our diversity – want to be truly included in making decisions about education. This means being involved at every stage, from planning new policies to making sure they work.
2. Support youth leadership: There’s a call for more investment in youth and student leaders, especially those from marginalized or vulnerable communities, and for youth to be a part of bodies that make big decisions. 

Understanding meaningful youth and student participation in education decision-making - a survey

The SDG 4 High-Level Steering Committee (HLSC) decided in December 2022 to task the GEM Report and the UNESCO Institute for Statistics to understand the extent to which governments engage youth and students in education legislation and policy making processes. 

As part of the implementation of this decision, the GEM Report developed a survey to collect information to feed the measurement tool. There is one survey for governments and one for youth organizations.  The survey was designed in consultation with the SDG 4 Youth and Student Network, the Global Student Forum, and youth participation experts, in close collaboration with the United Nations Youth Office. 

Up to five youth and student organizations are being contacted in each country to request that they share their perspective on the extent and nature of their involvement in education legislation and policymaking. 

More than 85 countries and more than 100 youth and student organizations have completed the survey, and with your help, we can continue to increase our reach!

What’s next?

The survey data will be used to provide a global picture of the extent to which youth and student participation in education legislation and policy-making is institutionalized. 

The results from this exercise will be featured in the 2026 Youth Report that will be published by the Global Education Monitoring Report. Prepared in partnership with the UN Youth Office, the report will assess government and youth responses on how governments are involving youth and students in education policymaking. 

If you fulfill the criteria, please contact us! All participating youth and student organisations will be featured on this page.