At a Children’s Day programme in Kohima, a child waiting to speak may look past the microphone and search the audience for a familiar face. A parent’s wave or a teacher’s nod can steady a trembling voice. Once the first sentence is out, the child looks up again, this time with a smile. Anyone who has watched a school programme knows how much can happen in that small exchange.
On 14 November, India marks Children’s Day on the birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru. At Don Bosco Higher Secondary School, Kohima, this year’s theme is “Generation Hope.” There will be songs, games, dance, and the pleasure of watching teachers surprise their students. The day also gives us a reason to think about the children whose lives have been interrupted and what it takes for them to feel at home again.
When children must leave home
Imagine leaving with only what your family can carry. A schoolbag may come along. A friend’s address, a favourite book or the notebook you need for tomorrow’s class may be left behind. After the journey, adults have to find somewhere to stay. A child has questions of their own. Where will I go to school? Will anyone there speak my language? When will I see my friends?
UNICEF estimates that by the end of 2024, 48.7 million children worldwide had been forcibly displaced by conflict, violence or other human rights violations. Some crossed national borders. Others stayed in their own countries, far from their homes and schools. A safe place to sleep is an immediate need. In the weeks that follow, a timetable, a familiar face and somewhere to play can help a child begin to trust the ordinary rhythm of a day again.
When violence targets people because of their ethnicity, the effects can shape a child’s entire school life. In 2017, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled attacks in Myanmar for Bangladesh. Eight years later, UNICEF reported that about half a million Rohingya refugee children were growing up in the camps, many of them born there. In Sudan’s Darfur region, UNICEF has also documented how war and mass displacement have interrupted schooling. For a child growing up away from home, a place to learn can mean a dependable routine and the chance to make friends again.
Here in Northeast India, the ethnic violence that broke out in neighbouring Manipur in May 2023 brought these concerns close to home. That August, the Union Ministry of Education told the Rajya Sabha that 14,763 school-going children had been displaced. Manipur’s 2024–25 Economic Survey records steps to help them continue learning, including free admission to nearby government schools, school supplies and catch-up classes. In our own settings, the welcome we give a displaced child should be the same regardless of their community. It can begin with a teacher helping a family with admission or a classmate making room at the lunch table.
Welcoming a child also means respecting what they choose to share. A new pupil may want to talk about football or a favourite song before saying anything about why they left home. That choice belongs to the child. A classmate who asks them to join a game has already made the first day a little easier.
A place in the classroom
UNESCO’s 2026 Global Education Monitoring Report estimates that 273 million children and young people of primary and secondary school age were out of school in 2024. Of these, 130 million were of upper secondary age. The figures include young people affected by crises as well as those facing everyday barriers such as transport costs, disability or pressure to earn for the family. In a school community, those barriers often show up first as a few missed days.
When a student’s attendance changes, a quiet conversation can reveal what the register cannot. One student may be caring for younger siblings. Another may be embarrassed to read aloud after missing several months of lessons. A teacher who asks, “Which part would you like us to go over together?” gives the student somewhere to begin. A classmate can share notes, and a school can make time for regular catch-up sessions and see whether they are helping.
Development is easy to picture when we follow a child’s journey through a day. A safe road and affordable transport help them reach school. Clean drinking water and an accessible toilet help them stay there with dignity. A meal helps them concentrate. A well-stocked library gives them a place to discover interests that may never appear on an examination paper. Each of these things can determine whether an education is within reach.
In our area, schools and community groups can start by asking families which costs or practical difficulties are keeping children away. A school might lend textbooks or open its library for supervised study after class. A parish or neighbourhood group might help a family meet transport costs through a trusted local organisation. The difference will show up in ordinary ways. A teenager returns on Monday. She keeps coming back. By the end of the term, she is ready to sit the examination.
The Holy Family on the road
Matthew’s Gospel tells of Joseph rising in the night and taking Mary and the infant Jesus to Egypt to escape Herod’s threat (Matthew 2:13–15). Christians who know the familiar image of the Holy Family at Bethlehem can pause over this later scene. Here are parents leaving home in haste because their child’s life is in danger. The story invites us to think about what a family travelling in fear might need from the people it meets.
Later, when the disciples try to turn children away, Jesus says, “Let the children come to me” (Matthew 19:14). We can act on those words when we listen to a child before deciding what they need, ask a family how we can help, or make a classroom easier to enter and a lesson easier to follow.
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What peace looks like close to home
At the Catholic Church’s first World Children’s Day in 2024, Pope Francis asked children to pray for those suffering because of war and injustice. A Children’s Day prayer in our own school can remember children who have lost someone, those growing up far from home, and those waiting to return to school. A parish/church can carry that prayer into the year by working with local partners to help families obtain school supplies, tutoring or transport.
Children learn how to live with differences by watching the grown-ups around them. At home, parents and grandparents can check a story before passing it on, especially when it blames another community. They can let children see what it looks like to disagree without insulting someone, and how to apologise after speaking unfairly. At school, adults can take a child seriously when they report being mocked for their accent, tribe or faith, and check back to see whether the teasing has stopped.
Young people have a part in this today. Invite the student standing at the edge of the playground to join your game. Learn how to say a new classmate’s name. If someone has missed lessons, offer your notes and ask what would help. And if you are the one who has fallen behind, speak to a teacher or another adult you trust. You deserve the time and support it takes to catch up.
On 14 November, let the children sing loudly and enjoy the applause. Then, when the decorations come down and the desks are back in rows, let us keep paying attention. Perhaps a child who has had to leave everything familiar behind will walk into a classroom and hear someone say, “We saved you a seat.” For that child, it may be the moment school begins to feel like theirs.
