Aayushi Khillan is a youth advocate, philanthropist and Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) board member at just nineteen years old. 

She is an undergraduate student at the University of Melbourne and is completing her degree in Biomedicine. She says she wants to study Medicine in the future. 

After campaigning and providing a “proper cover letter” she was selected to sit at the board last year. During this time, she has been responsible for paying special attention to the migrant communities to provide support to new students and parents. 

Only in her first year as the youngest member of the VCAA board, Ms Khillan also faced the challenge of a global pandemic.  

Being the first and only student board member she says that the youth are neglected from the policymaking process because of lack of experience.

“I think we don’t lack experience, we just have different experiences. And these experiences are so relevant to the challenges we will face in the future.” 

“Ultimately we are going to be left with the world to deal with it, and I think we need to take young students in policymaking,” Ms Khillan says.

Listen as SAARI Host Sheetal Singh talks to Ms Khillan about her advocacy, her support for diverse communities and her plans to include students in policymaking.