Written by student Bethan Hoggan

At the end of March, the House of Commons’ Education Select Committee held an online session with children and young people to hear about their experience of the Covid-19 pandemic and the impact it has had on their futures. The committee is made up of MPs from various political parties whose role is to hold the government to account on education policy.

As a member of UK Youth Parliament, I was asked to give evidence and jumped at the chance! Our whole world was turned upside down last year. Our homes became our college, our youth clubs and our places of worship, and we've all dealt with the circumstances differently. As a student studying A level politics, I recognise the importance of government scrutiny and shaping policy that affects my life. It was an amazing experience to be able to speak to the MPs about how this past year has been and have the opportunity to ask them questions. During the session, which took place remotely, we covered a number of different subjects such as exams, content, teaching, extracurricular activities and our fears and worries for the future.

I'm glad that the House of Commons have made a conscious effort to listen and understand the views of young people, and I really hope they take our comments into account when creating further legislation.

Victoria Keitel, politics and history teacher, commented, “It was a great opportunity for Bethan to give evidence to the Select Committee on Education and explain the impact of Covid-19 on students. I’m pleased that she was invited to ask them a question about how effective they thought Select Committees are, especially considering the government adopts about 40% of Committees’ recommendations. Hopefully Bethan’s testimony will help improve the lives of students across the country.”

For more information and to watch the evidence session, please click here .