Select a region
The Chair of Guernsey's Youth Forum has highlighted the bullying problem in the island with a call to action to tackle that and other issues facing young people today.
Neave Chatting-Tonks was invited to speak at the UK's House of Commons on Friday as part of a sitting of the Youth Parliament.
This was the first time the Crown Dependencies were represented at the Youth Parliament with Jersey and the Isle of Man also sending delegates to speak on their behalf.
Neave spoke first of the three Crown Dependencies, thanking all members for allowing her the opportunity to speak and raising what she called "the important issues of equality facing young people on my island today".
First, Neave discussed equality within the education sector, which she said was a "hot topic that has been around for decades".
She explained that bullying has increased in Guernsey according to data collated through surveys carried out in 2019 and 2022, with one in three secondary aged young people reporting that they have been bullied "at or near school in the last 12 months".
"This will have a severe impact on mental health with not having enough specialised teachers within schools," she said. "This makes students feel unsupported on a day to day basis to face this problem."
Neave told the parliament how the island's Youth Forum has worked on creating an anti-bullying pledge which requires people to not just be a bystander in the face of discrimination, while also pushing for a review of all anti-bullying policies at local schools.
Neave then discussed the "importance of youth voice with an ageing population in Guernsey".
Pictured: Neave Chatting-Tonks is Chair of the Youth Forum which is run by the Youth Commission.
"We feel disregarded as young people and our voices are not heard. Many young, many young people do not feel the need to put their vote forward as demonstrated by the recent statistics who signed up on the electoral role in 2022.
"This showed that only 4% of the total number of young people entitled to vote, ages 16 to 19 signed up.
"This is saddening to see that the future generations aren't signing up to vote as the people we are voting for are responsible for making important decisions in Guernsey."
Neave explained how she is helping to create a youth manifesto for the island, to make sure that what the youth wants is considered.
"We are the next generation," she said.
Neave's speech was followed by Jersey's representative who focused on the high cost of housing in his home island, and how that affects young people who feel they won't be able to afford to stay living there.
He also raised concerns over people treating students who went to Jersey's private schools differently to those who attended the public schools.
The Isle of Man's representative discussed challenges facing young people across all of the Crown Dependencies when it comes to further education, particularly involving costs.
She called it an inequality across the British Isles, with some universities still not allowing online interviews meaning there's an added cost for students from the Crown Dependencies that mainland students won't incur.
Guernsey-girl addresses parliament
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.