THE Commonwealth Students’ Association (CSA) officially announced the appointment of Umadevi Bux, as the new Guyana representative for the Caribbean and Americas Commonwealth Students’ Association working group for the period 2018-2020 .
This appointment was made since Ms Bux is also the Regional Coordinator, Policy and Advocacy for the Commonwealth Youth Peace Ambassador Network. As such, she brings a wide array of knowledge and skills to the focus areas for Guyana via the International Commonwealth Youth Network.

During her two-year service with the Commonwealth Students’ Association, Ms Bux will seek to advocate for better education policies in both private and state educational institutions for students across all regions in Guyana. She will also be working alongside the CSA to lobby for students’ rights; government and private sector involvement in the education sector and set up a working national student association. This will involve stakeholders to ensure positive impacts are made within the education sector for all parties involved.

This newspaper spoke with Umadevi, who shared that she is elated to have been chosen, explaining that she is an activist and humanitarian and is very passionate about advocacy, especially in the area of education. “I accepted this prestigious offer because I’m an activist by nature and humanitarian at heart. I believe that youths are not just leaders of tomorrow, but also leaders of today and we need to step up and take the podium, take the lead. All issues faced in the world, whether we like it or not, will be served by this generation. We have to take the lead in making a positive impact,” the young woman said.
She shared that the Commonwealth Students’ Association is the joining of student organisations within the Commonwealth. Their role is to be independent advocates for students and bring students’ perspectives into the policy decision-making processes of the Commonwealth. The CSA will amplify the voice of students and seek to enhance the role of students in the Commonwealth and in policy matters that affect their lives. The CSA will be the official platform for student associations and organisations in the Commonwealth and beyond.

Similarly, Umadevi said this is what she has envisioned on a local level: to form a council for local students from across the country to voice their concerns and share their thoughts and recommendations.

“A lot of times you have students who have something they want to speak about, something that’s bothering them or something that needs to be addressed in the education sector. And we have nowhere or no arena to get that out. So we’re hoping to create that forum, locally, to come together as a conclave where students can gather and sign up where they’ll have a medium to get their voice out there and to work out solutions for various problems being faced. And the mandate in Guyana is to reach out to all of the regions, so that we can all come under one umbrella and have a collective voice,” the activist said.

She added that education is the way out of poverty and the stepping stone to success. Hence, she will dedicate her service to make a positive change to foster an educated population, which will in turn foster a developed country.

Ms Bux’s social activism in Guyana also includes representing the youth of Guyana and youth around the world at several international conferences and summer programmes, including the Commonwealth Youth Forum 2018 (CHOGM 2018), Interseliger forum (August 2013) in Russian Federation School of Science and Politics, the Third (3rd) Summer School of United Nations Alliance of Civilization-Certification (UNAoC) August 2012 Portugal, Model of Organization Of American States (MOAS) March 2012, Bolivia; and held the National Directorship of an International Pageant, Miss India-Guyana 2017-2018.
She is currently pursuing a Medical Degree in General Medicine at the Texila American University in Guyana, South America.