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Guess the title of the new lesson

Go!

Puerto Rico!

How are Puerto Ricans claiming their identity through culture?

Index

For the love of Spanglish

Intermediate task

Puerto Rico and the USA

CE

Its status

The half time show

Bad Bunny's contribution

The Puerto Rican diaspora

NuevayoL

Charts

Bad Bunny's contribution

Puerto Rico and the USA

Quiz

CE

The NYC parade

Final project

The power of Spanglish

PR & the USA

Gentrification

Grammar

Pedro Pascal

Nuyorican Culture for a day

CO

Puerto Rico &the USA

A- What status for Puerto Rico?

Puerto Rico is part of the American Commonwealth. It is an American territory even though 46% of Americans don't actually know it is. It became American after the end of the Spanish-American War. Puerto Ricans benefit from rights as citizens but not full citizenship. For example, Puerto Ricans can neither vote for local issues nor for the president, which is paradoxical/illogical/strange...

Homework

Explain the complex status of Puerto Rico to someone who has never heard about it

Puerto Rico &the USA

B- The Puerto Rican diaspora

Homework

Explain to a friend the evolution of the Puerto Rican immigration to the USA.

Gentrification??

In brief, gentrification happens when wealthier newcomers move into working-class neighborhoods. New businesses and amenities often pop up to cater to these new residents. Potholes might get filled; a new bus line might appear. These changes attract even more affluent people, and property values go up. Landlords raise rents to what these new arrivals can afford to pay, so the original tenants get forced out. Real estate speculators may pressure homeowners to sell their family homes. Some of those pushedout will move to more affordable neighborhoods, others to entirely different cities; others may become unhoused. Gentrification is economic displacement: whole communities uprooted when rents rise. In the United States, forced displacement often happens along racial lines. It is occurring today in cities across the country, from Silicon Valley to New York City, from Seattle to Austin.

Activity

Puerto Rico &the USA

B- Nuevayol

1. What is the event? 2. Where does it take place? 3. Why do people attend this event? 4. What was announced on that day? 5. What was the theme in 2025? What does it say about the place of Puerto Ricans?

"I Explored Nuyorican Culture For A Day" - take notes and present

The museum "El barrio"

Spanish Harlem

And gentrification

The restaurant and its dishes

What makes Nuyorican culture special?

Intermediate task

Record a short podcast to present an element of Nuyorican or Puerto Rican culture such as a meal seen in the video, the flag and its origins or an event in NYС. Pay attention to: - the pronunciation (YOUGlish.com, Cambridge dictionary online, ...) - the format of the podcast - describing a Puerto Rican/ Nuyorican element and its connection to the rest of the US and the world.

Bad Bunny's contribution

NUEVAYoL

What do you see? What does the clip say?

Bad Bunny's contribution

NUEVAYoL

What do you see? What does the clip say?

Bad Bunny's contribution

NUEVAYoL

What do you see? What does the clip say?

The power of Spanglish

"I can do whatever I want"

Pedro Pascal teaches you Spanglish

"For the love of Spanglish"

Final task

"Instagram Video Post" You are a Bad Bunny fan and you record a short video (1-2 minutes) for your Instagram page to explain why his concerts in Puerto Rico are so important. In your video, you show your enthusiasm as a fan and: * Explain why his residency in Puerto Rico is unique and meaningful. Highlight how the concerts celebrate Puerto Rican identity (music, language, symbols, audience energy). And use Spanglish ;)! * Point out how they can also be seen as cultural resistance against U.S. influence. Tips: * Speak with energy and passion, as if you were really talking to your followers. Use informal, engaging language (like a real fan post). * Imagine you're convincing your audience why they should care.

Puerto Rico is part of the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean, located east of the Dominican Republic.

Puerto Rico belongs to the US but is not a state; it has a special status as an incorporated territory.

Due to its history and its link to the USA, both languages are official, though Spanish is dominant.

As a US territory, Puerto Rico uses the same currency as the mainland United States.

Residents of US territories do not have the right to vote in presidential elections, even though they are citizens.

San Juan is the largest city and the historic capital founded by the Spanish.

Luis fonsi is one the many global superstars from the island.

In 1917, the Jones Shafroth Act granted US citizenship to Puerto Ricans over 100 years ago.

In Spanish, it's called "La isla del encanto" because of its beauty.

Hurrican Maria was a Category 4 storm and caused a major humanitarian crisis on the island.

Timeline

Step 9

Step 7

Step 3

Step 5

Step 1

Step 10

Step 8

Step 6

Step 4

Step 2

20XX

Plan

Timeline

20XX

Structure

You can briefly describe what the timeline of your presentation consists of and state the milestones achieved verbally so that no one falls asleep.

20XX

Design

20XX

Communicate

+ info

20XX

Impress

Timeline

20XX

Plan

20XX

Structure

You can briefly describe what the timeline of your presentation consists of and state the milestones achieved verbally so that noone falls asleep.

20XX

Design

20XX

Communicate

20XX

Impress

20XX

Plan

20XX

Structure

Animation adds value to our content by helping us to capture attention, prioritize ideas, and make sure our audience remembers the content.

20XX

Design

20XX

Communicate

20XX

Impress

Graphs are very shareable so they are ideal for social media and, as if that wasn't enough: they usually generate quality traffic for the content we create.

10%

Graphic + text

Use this space to briefly describe your graph and its evolution.

Graphic + text

Graphs are very shareable so they are ideal for social media and, as if that wasn't enough: they usually generate quality traffic for the content we create.

+ info

Table + text

Showing enthusiasm, smiling, and maintaining eye contact with your audience can be your best allies when it comes to telling stories that excite and capture the audience's interest: 'The eyes, chico. They never lie'. This will help you connect with your audience. Knock their socks off!

Table + text

Showing enthusiasm, smiling, and maintaining eye contact with your audience can be your best allies when it comes to telling stories that excite and capture the audience's interest: 'The eyes, chico. They never lie'. This will help you connect with your audience. Knock their socks off!

List / Process

Synthesis and organization, the two pillars of presentation

Social beings

Narrative beings

Visual beings

We need to interact with one another. We learn in a collaborative way.

We can understand images from millions of years ago, even from other cultures.

We tell thousands and thousands of stories. ⅔ of our conversations are stories.

A great presentation ...

Insert a video

Multimedia content is essential in a presentation, to really wow your audience. What's more, this way you can summarize the content and entertain your audience.

Text + icons

Although you shouldn't overuse bullet points, icons and diagrams can be your best allies when telling stories. You'll hold the attention of your audience and the information will be imprinted in their brains.

Generate experiences with your content

It's got the Wow effect. Very Wow.

Measure results and experiment.

It's ordered, hierarchical, and structured

Make sure your audience remembers the message

Activate and surprise your audience

Text + icons

Generate experienceswith your content.

Measure resultsand experiment.

It's got the Wow effect.Very Wow.

Illustrating content is essential, especially when we include extensive, specific, and relevant information. As is the case with this creative presentation template.

Activate and surpriseyour audience.

Make sure your audience remembers the message.

Audio

If your content is interactive, it's engaging.

Surprise your audience with additional info.

Here you can include a relevant fact to highlight.

It is essential to check everything thoroughly. Don't let any typos slip through!

The tone is usually formal and the vocabulary technical, so bear this in mind when drafting.

Embedded content

Map

Social Network

Music

Interactive question

Interactive question

Interactive question

Interactive question

A great presentation ...

Conclusions

Is clear and structured

Tells stories hierarchically

Connects with your audience

Matches the fonts to the topic

Includes images and entertains

Shows data in graphs

Uses timelines

Describe the problem you're going to resolve and, above all, the reason why your idea is interesting

'Your content is good, but it'll engage much more if it's interactive.'

- Genially

Don't forget to publish!

Super!

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Got an idea?

Let the communication flow!

With Genially templates, you can include visual resources to wow your audience. You can also highlight a particular sentence or piece of information so that it sticks in your audience's minds, or even embed external content to surprise them: Whatever you like! Do you need more reasons to create dynamic content? No problem! 90% of the information we assimilate is received through sight and, what's more, we retain 42% more information when the content moves.

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1.1 How to Become a Journalist Advice from NBC Reporters and Experts

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2.1 What is a citizen journalism gap filling ex

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2.0 CE Read this powerful statement from Darnella Frazier

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The California senator is the first female, first black and first Asian-American US vice-president.

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Does your vote count? The Electoral College explained - Christina Greer

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White men, age 21 and older, who owned property were given the right to vote in 1776.

The 15th Amendment to the Constitution removed racial barriers to voting in 1870, but states continued to practice voter discrimination and continued to deny Black voters a chance to participate in elections.

The right to vote was extended to white women in 1920.

It wasn't until 1965, after years of intimidation, murders, and advocacy that the path to the voting booth was cleared for Black people with the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The right to vote, regardless of race

Just eight days after Martin Luther King, Jr. led a peaceful civil rights march in Selma, Alabama, President Lyndon B. Johnson announced his intention to pass a federal Voting Rights Act to ensure that no federal, state, or local government could in any way impede people from voting because of their race or ethnicity. He signed the Voting Rights Act into law later that year, banning racial discriminatory practices in voting, including literacy tests.

Provisions of the Voting Rights Act

Originally, legislators hoped that within five years of its passage, the issues surrounding the 1965 Voting Rights Act would be resolved and there would be no further need for its enforcement-related provisions. They were wrong. Congress had to extend these provisions in 1970, 1975, 1982 and most recently in 2007, this time for 25 years.

Enforcement measures included:

Requirements for certain jurisdictions with a history of disenfranchising voters to obtain approval or "preclearance" from the U.S. Department of Justice or the U.S/ District Court in D.C. before they can make any changes to voting practices or procedures. They must prove that the proposed change does not denying or infringe on the right to vote on account of race or color.

Requirements for certain jurisdictions to provide language assistance to voters in communities where there is a concentration of citizens who do aren't proficient in English to actively participate in the electoral process. This provision was added to the Voting Rights Act in 1975.

Federal election examiners and observers for certain jurisdictions where there is evidence of attempts to intimidate minority voters at the polls.

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One of the most important pieces of civil rights legislation in U.S. history, the Voting Rights Act was signed into law in 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

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What is the Electoral College and how does the US use it to elect presidents?

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The Electoral College is the unique American system of electing presidents. It’s a 538-member group that elects a president.

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Barbara Jordan Keynote Address to 1976 Democratic National Convention

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AOC Slams Rep. Yoho In House Floor Speech, Says ‘Having A Daughter Does Not Make A Man Decent’

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A look back at the then junior senator from Illinois Barack Obama delivering the speech that first gained him national attention.

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Are US voters being suppressed in Georgia?

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Are US voters being suppressed in Georgia?

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The US state of Georgia, along with several Southern states, has a history of suppressing the black vote - and critics say tactics to discourage certain groups from voting are still being used today.

Democrats accuse their rivals of purging electoral rolls and introducing strict identification laws, measures they claim disproportionately impact low-income and minority voters.

But Republican state officials, who did not agree to be interviewed for this story, reject allegations of suppression - they say restrictions are needed to prevent voter fraud.

The dysfunctional primary elections held in Georgia this summer - when the pandemic exacerbated flaws in the state's electoral infrastructure - have increased concerns over the coming presidential vote on 3 November.

The BBC's Larry Madowo went to Atlanta to ask whether America's image as a beacon of democracy is under threat.
Producers: Koralie Barrau & Efrem Gebreab
23 October 2020

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US election: Why can it be so hard to vote in Georgia?

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Critics say purged electoral rolls and strict identification laws are designed to suppress the vote.

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Gerrymandering, explained | The Washington Post

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Why 2 parties dominate American politics?

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Why 2 parties dominate American politics?

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Why Two Parties Dominate American Politics | America 101

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Republicans & Democrats_ Comparing & Contrasting US Political Parties

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How is power divided in the United States government_ - Belinda Stutzman

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India's caste system is among the world's oldest forms of surviving social stratification. The BBC explains its complexities.

The system which divides Hindus into rigid hierarchical groups based on their karma (work) and dharma (the Hindi word for religion, but here it means duty) is generally accepted to be more than 3,000 years old.

How did caste come about?

Manusmriti, widely regarded to be the most important and authoritative book on Hindu law and dating back to at least 1,000 years before Christ was born, "acknowledges and justifies the caste system as the basis of order and regularity of society".

The caste system divides Hindus into four main categories - Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and the Shudras. Many believe that the groups originated from Brahma, the Hindu God of creation.

At the top of the hierarchy were the Brahmins who were mainly teachers and intellectuals and are believed to have come from Brahma's head. Then came the Kshatriyas, or the warriors and rulers, supposedly from his arms. The third slot went to the Vaishyas, or the traders, who were created from his thighs. At the bottom of the heap were the Shudras, who came from Brahma's feet and did all the menial jobs.

The main castes were further divided into about 3,000 castes and 25,000 sub-castes, each based on their specific occupation.

Outside of this Hindu caste system were the achhoots - the Dalits or the untouchables.

How does caste work?

For centuries, caste has dictated almost every aspect of Hindu religious and social life, with each group occupying a specific place in this complex hierarchy.

Rural communities have long been arranged on the basis of castes - the upper and lower castes almost always lived in segregated colonies, the water wells were not shared, Brahmins would not accept food or drink from the Shudras, and one could marry only within one's caste.

The system bestowed many privileges on the upper castes while sanctioning repression of the lower castes by privileged groups.

Often criticised for being unjust and regressive, it remained virtually unchanged for centuries, trapping people into fixed social orders from which it was impossible to escape.

Despite the obstacles, however, some Dalits and other low-caste Indians, such as BR Ambedkar who authored the Indian constitution, and KR Narayanan who became the nation's first Dalit president, have risen to hold prestigious positions in the country.

Historians, though, say that until the 18th Century, the formal distinctions of caste were of limited importance to Indians, social identities were much more flexible and people could move easily from one caste to another.

New research shows that hard boundaries were set by British colonial rulers who made caste India's defining social feature when they used censuses to simplify the system, primarily to create a single society with a common law that could be easily governed.

Is the system legal?

Independent India's constitution banned discrimination on the basis of caste, and, in an attempt to correct historical injustices and provide a level playing field to the traditionally disadvantaged, the authorities announced quotas in government jobs and educational institutions for scheduled castes and tribes, the lowest in the caste hierarchy, in 1950.

In 1989, quotas were extended to include a grouping called the OBCs (Other Backward Classes) which fall between the traditional upper castes and the lowest.

In recent decades, with the spread of secular education and growing urbanisation, the influence of caste has somewhat declined, especially in cities where different castes live side-by-side and inter-caste marriages are becoming more common.

In certain southern states and in the northern state of Bihar, many people began using just one name after social reform movements. Despite the changes though, caste identities remain strong, and last names are almost always indications of what caste a person belongs to.

What about job quotas?

In recent years, there have been demands from several communities to be recognised as OBCs - in 2016 there were violent protests by the Jat community in Haryana and the Patel community led huge protests in Gujarat in 2015 demanding access to caste quotas.

Both are prosperous and politically dominant communities, but they support their demand for caste quotas by saying large numbers in their communities are poor and suffering.

Some say the caste system would have disappeared by now if the fires were not regularly fanned by politicians.

At elections, many caste groups still vote as a block and are wooed by politicians looking for electoral gains.

As a result, what was originally meant to be a temporary affirmative action plan to improve the lot of the unprivileged groups has now become a vote-grabbing exercise for many politicians.

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India's complex caste system is among the world's oldest forms of surviving social stratification.

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3.1 Dalit Art exhibition poster and audio

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How is the Dalit situation changing India?

faire sociéte libertés publiques et libertés individuelles

Index

What is a caste?

1

The dalit reality

2

Art VS contestation

3

Handouts

4

a global issue

5

final task

6

Pag. 4

Pag. 7

Pag. 12

Pag. 15

Pag. 16

Pag. 18

Definition

Segmentation of society into groups whose membership was/is determined by birth - a hierarchical system wherein the Brahmins were/are at the head of the hierarchy.

1

What is the caste system?

One day in Dharavi

- take running notes- write key words- any questions?

2

What is the caste system?

Homework

Watch the video on the evolutionof the caste system, and- take running notes- write key wordsAnswer the 2 questions:- When does a person's caste get decided?- How did it impact the bigger decisions people took for themselves?And prepare other questions

What is the caste system?

A Dalit reality

Definition

Poster description

"Caste apartheid" emphasizes the ostracism (the exclusion) of the lower caste members. "Apartheid" implies that a category of people is oppressed and undermined by another, here based on caste (and not skin color or nationality for example).

Video

A Dalit reality

Find informationabout ThenmozhiSoundararajanand the case she fights for

Text

A Dalt reality

CO

A Dalit reality

Entraînement

Text

A Dalit reality

1. Why is the author said to be privileged?2. Explain "elite dalit is an oxymoron". What does it reveal about the Dalit condition today?3. What conclusion can be drawn from the author's testimony?

To start your report

Step 1

Take notes on the opposition between the legal situation of the Dalits nowadays and their daily realities. Then, write a paragraph insisting on the challenges the Dalits have to face and the means they use to improve the situation.

Description

Dalit Art

Interview of Jithinlal NR

Dalit Art

Find a Dalist artist, write a few lines on the role of his/her art in raising awareness about the Dalit experience.

Your report

Step 2

Take notes on the reasons why Dalit rights are still not secured in India's society and complete your file.Explain what would be necessary to achieve real progress for the community.

Step 3

CURRENT ISSUES- group activity

4 HANDOUTS

CASTE&EDUCATION

CASTE&VIOLENCE

CASTE&LITERATURE

CASTE&EMPLOYMENT

Look!

A GLOBAL ISSUE

Read!

A GLOBAL ISSUE

Final task

WRITE YOUR FINAL REPORT

Now that you have completed your study, the times has come for you to gather your notes, connect the paragraphs you have written, and format the final version of your report for the #DalitLivesMatter social movement.

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Méthodologie

LEARNING EXPERIENCE

What do you know about India?

LEARNING EXPERIENCE

Quiz

START

LEARNING EXPERIENCE QUIZ

What is the capital city of India

Question 1 of 7

Delhi

Mumbai

Calcutta

LEARNING EXPERIENCE QUIZ

NEXT

LEARNING EXPERIENCE QUIZ

How many inhabitants are there in India?

Question 2 of 7

2.4 billion

1.4 billion

3.4 billion

LEARNING EXPERIENCE QUIZ

NEXT

LEARNING EXPERIENCE QUIZ

What is the country's major religion?

Question 3 of 7

Buddhism

Hinduism

Jainism

LEARNING EXPERIENCE QUIZ

NEXT

LEARNING EXPERIENCE QUIZ

Who is India's recently reelected Prime Minister?

Question 4 of 7

Jawaharlal Nehru

Mahatma Gandhi

Shri Narendra Modi

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NEXT

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What animals are sacred in India?

Question 5 of 7

All

Crocodiles, bats, dogs and cats

Cows, monkeys, camels and boars

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What is this?

Taj Mahal

Jad Mahal

Jaipur City Palace

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What is India's sacred river?

Question 7 of 7

River Thames

River Volga

River Ganges

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Namaste

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India Caste Violence: Dalit caste fighting for their rights in India

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Caste conundrum : Why do upper castes believe discrimination doesn’t exist?

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We Spent A Day In The Largest Slum In India | THE VOICELESS #8

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Challenging India's caste system | India Now! | ABC News

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dalits

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'Why Am I An Untouchable?' | Perspectives

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Dalits in India still struggle for rights | DW English

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With Stories of Her Oppressed Community, a Journalist Takes Aim at the Walls of Caste (Published 2023)

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Meena Kotwal started a news outlet focused on Dalit and other marginalized groups in India, hoping that telling their stories would help improve their lives.

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BBC article, 2016 - why are Dalit students taking their lives?

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BBC article, 2016 - why are Dalit students taking their lives?

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Mr Vemula, 26, was one of five Dalit - formerly known as untouchable - students who were protesting against their expulsion from the university's housing facility. India's 180 million Dalits are among its most wretched citizens, because of an unforgiving and cruel caste hierarchy that condemns them to the bottom of the heap.

Mr Vemula and the four other students faced allegations last August that they attacked a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) - the student wing of the governing Hindu nationalist BJP - on the campus. Some reports say an investigation had found no "conclusive evidence" of the assault.

Last year the students had also protested against the execution of Yakub Memon, the man convicted of financing the deadly 1993 Mumbai bombings and the right-wing ABVP's stalling of a documentary film on the Muzaffarnagar riots in Delhi University.

One newspaper said the sequence of events leading to Mr Vemula's death shows how he was "steadily isolated by campus authorities and his appeals went largely unheard".

The university stopped paying his monthly stipend of 25,000 rupees ($369; £258) allegedly because he raised issues under the campus's Dalit-led students union.

It also began an investigation into his - and his friends - conduct. In August federal minister Bandaru Dattatreya, a BJP junior minister, wrote a letter to the federal education ministry complaining that the university had become a "den of casteist, extremist and anti-national politics".

In September, Mr Vemula and four other students were suspended - although the minister denies this was linked to his missive, which he says was not about the Dalit students, but a general comment on the restive campus.

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Why are India's Dalit students taking their lives?

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The Dalit Phd student who took his life in an Indian university on Sunday is the latest victim of India's scourge of untouchability, writes Soutik Biswas

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India: Marginalized Children Denied Education

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Caste-based discrimination in India's public schools contributes to significant inequity and often prevents students from maintaining their enrollment. India's 2009 Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act was put in place to ensure that all children received a basic primary education but lacks the structural support necessary to track each student causing those who are most marginalized to fall through the cracks. Additionally, India's officials tend to ignore the harmful treatment that Dalit children experience in their classrooms.

According to the government, nearly half - over 80 million children - drop out before completing their elementary education.

Lower-caste students report heightened sexual, physical and verbal abuse in their classrooms. They frequently are segregated from other students and humiliated in front of their peers. Teachers are reported to contribute more to this issue than non-marginalized students with details of slurs, put downs and discouragement surrounding their ability to succeed in school. Religious or cultural differences are disregarded leaving students unable to successfully progress through school or meet similar targets to their peers. Although caste-based discrimination is technically illegal, for all intents and purposes such mistreatment remains commonplace in India.

The children from Dalits - the former untouchables - tribals and Muslims, who face subtle or glaring discrimination, feel humiliated and hurt, and eventually they no longer want to attend. Dropping out makes them vulnerable to child labour and early marriages.

This degradation has direct consequences on educational outcomes and successes for marginalized children, often leading to early departures from school. This cycle of discrimination in the classroom has long term effects on student outcomes. They are intensely discouraged by their teachers and bullied to the extreme. In many cases, school acts as a method of changing societal status and the only opportunity a student may have to change their life circumstance. When they are driven out of school this chance to disrupt the cycle of poverty they were born into disappears.

Education is considered a form of cultural capital that is crucial to social mobility. As research among Dalit youth show, many of them seek to overcome the stigma of caste by aspiring to education that will lead to occupations other than caste-based ones.

The economic results of this in Dalit communities are devastating as children remain entrenched in systems that keep them subordinated and prevent them from escaping poverty. Overall development in India is additionally stifled by the governments inability to successfully keep children in school and failure to address barriers to student success particularly those within lower-castes. While India celebrates the reduction of overall illiteracy and dropout rates, officials turn a blind eye to the caste discrimination that keeps certain students from ever achieving success.

Obtaining a quality education is the foundation to creating sustainable development. In addition to improving quality of life, access to inclusive education can help equip locals with the tools required to develop innovative solutions to the world's greatest problems.

India's ability to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goal, Quality Education, is unequivocally hindered by the continued discrimination of lower-caste peoples within the country. Tremendous efforts have been made to turn the tide socially but without concrete structural policy to back such efforts, there is no clear way to prevent mistreatment. Access to education is central to the achievement of interrelated human rights outcomes without which India cannot holistically progress. The continued degradation of groups of people based on caste prevents economic development and leaves great swaths of the country unable to contribute to development and in desolate poverty. Next steps are clear in the eyes of Human Rights Watch as the organization calls for India to do the following:

Develop clear indicators to detect and address discrimination in schools; lay out appropriate disciplinary measures.

Create a system to track every child from enrollment through completion of grade VIII

Train teachers to develop methods for greater interaction among children of varied socio-economic and caste backgrounds.

As a western identified person, my perspectives into this situation are hindered by lack of lived experience surrounding caste. Caste holds an important historical role in Indian society and is tied closely with religion. Critiques of this system must be filtered through a 'cultural relativist' lens to ensure that the idea of so called 'universalist' thinking doesn't only take into account dominant western ways of knowing. Despite the consideration of the cultural aspects of caste-based discrimination, in this case, the governments abolition of caste and their legal attempts to prevent discrimination show that the abolition of such practices is called for both internally in India and externally by the UN. The universal human rights agenda of the UN certainly has its issues, taking culture into account is an imperative component of understanding local practice in any country and calling certain things universal can run the risk of discounting nuance. With that being said, the act of defining and calling for countries to uphold universal human rights provides people with the language and authority to stand up and demand the treatment they feel that they deserve.

Citations:

"Campaign and New Report Highlight Caste Discrimination in Schools." International Dalit Solidarity Network, 9 Oct. 2017, idsn.org/campaign-new-report-highlight-caste-discrimination-abuse-schools/.

"Caste Discrimination Keeps Dalit Children from Schools." Video Volunteers, 13 Aug. 2017, www.videovolunteers.org/caste-discrimination-keeps-dalit-children-from-schools/.

"India: Marginalized Children Denied Education." Human Rights Watch, 23 June 2015, www.hrw.org/news/2014/04/22/india-marginalized-children-denied-education.

Sharma, Betwa. "'Rampant Discrimination' in India's Schools." Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 22 Apr. 2014, www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/04/discrimination-india-schools-2014422123039276470.html.
Header Photo Credit Video Credit First Photo Credit Second Photo Credit

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Caste-based discrimination in India's public schools contributes to significant inequity and often prevents students from maintaining their enrollment. India's 2009 Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act was put in place to ensure that all children received a basic primary education but lacks the structural support necessary to track each student causing those who are most marginalized to fall through the cracks.

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Let's Begin...

In 1947, the British viceroy announced that after 200 years of British rule, India would gain independence and be partitioned into Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan. What followed was one of the largest and bloodiest forced migrations in history: an estimated 1 million people lost their lives. What caused this violent aftermath? Haimanti Roy details the lasting legacies of the Partition of India.

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Meet The Creators

Educator Haimanti Roy

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Director of Production Gerta Xhelo

Editorial Director Alex Rosenthal

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Editorial Producer Elizabeth Cox

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Fact-Checker Joseph Isaac

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Why was India split into two countries? - Haimanti Roy

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In 1947, the British viceroy announced that after 200 years of British rule, India would gain independence and be partitioned into Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan. What followed was one of the largest and bloodiest forced migrations in history: an estimated 1 million people lost their lives. What caused this violent aftermath?

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Keynote Lecture  - Thenmozhi Soundararajan

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Thenmozhi Soundararajan: The Trauma of Caste

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Ana Kasparian I Don't Care About Your Religion

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TORONTO (AP) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned Saturday that the U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn a constitutional right to abortion could lead to the loss of other rights and indicated his country would continue to allow Americans to get abortions in Canada.

Trudeau called the court's decision "horrific" and voiced concern that the ruling could someday allow a rollback of legal protections for gay relationships, including the right for same-sex couples to marry.

"We know that this is an extremely, not just scary, but disheartening time for so many women," Trudeau said at a news conference in Kigali, Rwanda, at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

"Women for generations have fought for more rights in the United States, (only) to see this setback, to worry as well about how this can be expanded to more rights be taken away in the United States," he said.

"This is a reminder of how we need to be unequivocal in our defense of people's rights, in not taking anything for granted, in staying vigilant, and always standing up for woman's rights, for LBGT rights, for the rights of people who are disenfranchised and marginalized," he added.

Asked if his government would help American women seeking abortions in Canada, Trudeau did not directly respond, but said: "Everyday Americans who find themselves in Canada access our health care system in Canada and that's certainly something that will continue,"

However the cost, the need to travel and to have a passport make that prohibitive for some Americans.

The ruling is likely to lead to abortion bans in roughly half of American states.

Thirteen states, mainly in the South and Midwest, already had laws to ban abortion in the event Roe was overturned. Another half-dozen states have near-total bans or prohibitions after six weeks, before many women know they are pregnant.

Trudeau vowed to continue to stand up for woman's rights in the U.S. and elsewhere.

"We have a commitment in Canada to ensure, first of all, that every women has full, safe legal access to the full suite of sexual health and reproductive services, including safe and legal abortions and we've been working hard to increase access to women across the country," Trudeau said.

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Canada Will Allow Americans To Cross The Border For Abortions: Trudeau

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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn a constitutional right to abortion "horrific."

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WATCH: Pelosi says Supreme Court abortion decision is ‘eviscerating Americans’ rights’

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TORONTO (AP) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned Saturday that the U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn a constitutional right to abortion could lead to the loss of other rights and indicated his country would continue to allow Americans to get abortions in Canada.

Trudeau called the court's decision "horrific" and voiced concern that the ruling could someday allow a rollback of legal protections for gay relationships, including the right for same-sex couples to marry.

"We know that this is an extremely, not just scary, but disheartening time for so many women," Trudeau said at a news conference in Kigali, Rwanda, at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

"Women for generations have fought for more rights in the United States, (only) to see this setback, to worry as well about how this can be expanded to more rights be taken away in the United States," he said.

"This is a reminder of how we need to be unequivocal in our defense of people's rights, in not taking anything for granted, in staying vigilant, and always standing up for woman's rights, for LBGT rights, for the rights of people who are disenfranchised and marginalized," he added.

Asked if his government would help American women seeking abortions in Canada, Trudeau did not directly respond, but said: "Everyday Americans who find themselves in Canada access our health care system in Canada and that's certainly something that will continue,"

However the cost, the need to travel and to have a passport make that prohibitive for some Americans.

The ruling is likely to lead to abortion bans in roughly half of American states.

Thirteen states, mainly in the South and Midwest, already had laws to ban abortion in the event Roe was overturned. Another half-dozen states have near-total bans or prohibitions after six weeks, before many women know they are pregnant.

Trudeau vowed to continue to stand up for woman's rights in the U.S. and elsewhere.

"We have a commitment in Canada to ensure, first of all, that every women has full, safe legal access to the full suite of sexual health and reproductive services, including safe and legal abortions and we've been working hard to increase access to women across the country," Trudeau said.

Do you have info to share with HuffPost reporters? Here's how.

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Canada Will Allow Americans To Cross The Border For Abortions: Trudeau

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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn a constitutional right to abortion "horrific."

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LOGAN ET JEANNE (EDISON = PAS GRAND CHOSE = TRAVAIL MAISON A FAIRE)

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Athénaïs STRALE

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Marron et Orange Neutre Délicat Bio Mode Marketing Présentation

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loryne , lucie

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Education For All | Cameron Allen | TEDxKids@ElCajon

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A school is a place where we learn many things. It teaches us many things. However, there are many people who think we don’t need school. Even some people claim it is a waste of time. That’s why till now there has been a lot of debate regarding this matter. We all know school is ... Read more

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Asking college students if they think they could be successful without the education system.#college #interview #university #student #school #education

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How will the future change education as we know it? Explore the schools and universities of tomorrow with Cisco Education.

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Millie was seven years old when she started struggling with going to school. Her teachers weren't too worried initially, her mother, Sarah, says: she was managing fine academically. But Millie, who is autistic and has a sensory processing disorder, seemed to find the busy classroom overwhelming. The following year, she began seriously to resist.

"It would start the night before," says Sarah, a children's nurse. "She couldn't sleep, couldn't eat her dinner, then in the morning she'd be absolutely flat out - it was taking an hour to get her out of bed. I would have to dress her, she'd be like a rag doll. And all the time they kept saying, 'Just get her in, she's fine once she's in.' It got to the point where I was physically unable to carry her, she'd be lying on the floor kicking and screaming."

The first Covid lockdown in spring 2020 was, for Millie, a welcome relief. "You weren't allowed to go to school, you weren't allowed to leave the house, nobody was allowed to come round - it was good for her." That September, Millie returned to school armed with an Educational Health and Care Plan (EHCP), a statement of her special needs, which was meant to guarantee specific support in school. But her mother says it wasn't consistently followed. Millie began having panic attacks, and the following autumn "she just had an absolute meltdown, breakdown, whatever you want to call it. So she stopped going to school."

Sarah fought for a place at a special school with tiny classes, which could ease her daughter back gradually. But halfway through her first term, Millie broke down again. Now 12, her only education for nearly a year has been work sent home via a hospital tutoring programme for chronically sick children, and her parents have drastically adjusted their expectations for her. "If she's alive, happy ... there's so much more that's relevant in life than going to university," Sarah says. "The difficulty is she wants to be doing things. She loves learning."

When Millie gets frustrated, she sometimes self-harms, pulling her hair out and picking at her skin till it bleeds. Sarah's voice breaks as she discloses that her daughter used to say she'd rather be dead, so she didn't have to go to school. "When she was saying those things, she was so young she didn't even realise people can kill themselves. Now she's older she knows suicide is a thing. That's why we have to keep her safe at home."

People tell me to shout at them, take their iPad away, but it's not that they don't want to go, it's that they can't

The strain on the family is intense: Sarah has stopped work, her husband had a breakdown himself last year, and she feels judged by other parents. "People say, 'Just tell them they have to go; shout at them, take their iPad away.' And I say, 'It's not that they don't want to go to school, it's that they can't.'"

As a new autumn term begins, the biggest challenge for many headteachers is getting children through the door. After three years of constant interruptions to education, from lockdowns to Covid outbreaks and teaching strikes, attendance has crumbled. Persistent absence, defined as missing more than 10% of lessons, more than doubled from 8% of primary and 13.7% of secondary school children pre-Covid across England to 17% and 28% respectively in 2022-2023. Rachel de Souza, children's commissioner for England, calculates that of the 1.6 million children persistently absent during the autumn and spring of 2021-22, 818,000 were off for reasons other than the usual childhood illnesses.Many of these absentees are worryingly vulnerable: children with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) and children on free school meals are disproportionately more likely to be persistently off. But absence is a complex, many-headed hydra.

Some parents have seemingly learned to treat education more casually, taking cheap term-time holidays or allowing "duvet days". (The Instagram parenting influencer Molly Gunn recently confessed to letting her children take birthdays, "lounging days" and six weeks in Ibiza off.) At the other end of the spectrum are the "ghost children" supposedly vanishing from schools during the pandemic and potentially at risk of falling into crime or abuse. Though there are few reliable estimates for how many children have actually fallen off the radar completely, in the autumn of 2020 93,514 children were absent more than 50% of the time compared with just over 60,000 pre-Covid.

But perhaps the most perplexing problem facing headteachers is an apparent wave of chronic anxiety in children, leading to what was formerly known as school refusal - now termed "emotionally based school avoidance". For some children who found school difficult and craved the comfort of home, leaving the cocoon of lockdown was obviously tough. But for others, anxiety seems to have emerged only under the stress and isolation of the pandemic. And sometimes children's own feelings can be hard to disentangle from those of parents anxious about mixing socially again. Whatever the cause, this autumn offers a critical opportunity for a fresh start.

"September is the moment," says De Souza, who fears that if absence isn't solved now, then it may become baked in, with lifelong consequences for the most disadvantaged. "Every child, however difficult it is and for whatever reason they might be out of school, will think again in September." The education secretary Gillian Keegan is also preparing an autumn offensive, appealing this summer for heads to fetch children in from home themselves if necessary.

But parent groups such as Not Fine in School and Square Peg, representing families like Sarah's, say crackdowns on nonattendance risk stigmatising those whose children genuinely can't cope. They want better pastoral care and SEND provision in schools instead, and for children's happiness to be prioritised. "All we've been measuring is results, tests, exams," says Square Peg's director, Ellie Costello. "I think our children have been holding a mirror up to us - the life we are asking them to live, the expectations on them, the pressures on them." This isn't just an argument about attendance - in part, it's about the nature of childhood itself.

Growing up in Middlesbrough, in a neighbourhood where, he says wryly, teenage boys could get up to all sorts, sport evidently helped keep Michael Robson on track. A former professional footballer - he signed to Sunderland straight from school but never quite made the big time - he is friendly but brisk, with an athlete's iron self-discipline. He waves away the proffered sandwich lunch when we meet at Grangefield academy in the market town of Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham.

Robson is now a senior executive at the Northern Education Trust, which oversees this school and a scattering of other academies along the north-east coast, from the former mining community of Blyth down through Hartlepool to nearby Redcar. But before the pandemic, he was headteacher at North Shore academy, the trust's other school in Stockton, where he oversaw an uncompromising approach to boosting attendance (since adopted trust-wide) dubbed "exemplary" by the schools minister Nick Gibb. (The trust's CEO, Rob Tarn, now sits on the Department for Education's Attendance Action Alliance, helping spread best practice nationwide via regional attendance "hubs", or local clusters of schools who share strategies.) Here, then, is the government's favoured recipe.

Work starts well before the school day begins, with the attendance team visiting some children before they've even had a chance to bunk off. "We'll knock on the door at 7.30am and say, 'Don't forget, you're in school today,'" explains Andrew Murphy, Grangefield's equally energetic executive principal. Lists of absentees are generated within minutes of registers being taken; all can then expect a phone call or knock on the door, even if parents ring in to report a child is sick. (Absence is considered a safeguarding issue, because for some children, failing to turn up could signal they are in danger, at home or elsewhere.) In the afternoons, staff might phone parents of children reported sick to ask if they'll be back tomorrow, or visit hardened absentees who don't answer a morning knock. And if it doesn't work? "Keep trying - we go again," Robson says. The trust's ethos is the "no excuses" approach beloved of Michael Gove in his time as education secretary - which means no blaming challenging circumstances, even though these schools serve the kind of disadvantaged, mainly white working-class communities where attendance was historically difficult even pre-Covid. "We should be able to do it for the kids in this community, and we don't expect less of them," Robson adds firmly.

'Some young people are really, really struggling': Michael Robson of the Northern Education Trust. Photograph: Christopher Owens/The Guardian

All this costs money - Grangefield has access to five learning managers, an educational welfare officer and safeguarding officer, which Robson says is affordable only because they belong to a big multi-academy trust. And crucially, it also involves carrots alongside the stick. Walking round the school, the corridors ring to the sound of applause: children here are taught to clap good answers from classmates, and those who go the extra mile get their names written up on the classroom door. On every table sit boxes of equipment to which pupils can help themselves - not every family here can afford pens and rulers - and a strict uniform policy is maintained by ensuring nobody goes without. "If it's a hardship, we'll give them a blazer; if they've no shoes, we will give them shoes. If they've forgotten something, we'll lend it," Robson says.During lockdown the trust bought every child a laptop; anyone not logged on by the time online lessons started got a phone call or visit.

Then there is the Bridge, a small nurturing unit designed to ease children back if they've been off with serious illness or are vulnerable for other reasons. "You might have a child who is out of school and the prospect of returning to a big cohort is terrifying. For some we'll say, 'You just need to come in at these hours and work with a teaching assistant or tutor in your own room,'" Robson says. In nearby Redcar, the trust tried taking severely absent kids to make things in the engineering department of a local college or on outdoor activities: anything to rebuild relationships with teachers.

Yet for all this, attendance remains a "daily battle": while it's still above the national average at North Shore, it's not yet back to pre-Covid levels. And, rather tellingly, that pattern isn't just confined to children. In 2022, the year the pandemic officially ended, sickness absence among working adults was higher than in any year since 2004. Almost half of adults still work at least sometimes from home. In demanding children snap back to the old norm, society is arguably asking more of them than of grownups. What's more, when schools minister Gibb was asked by MPs this year about a reported rise in anxiety among children, he said home working may have allowed some parents to keep at home anxious children who would once have had to go to school.

There is still little hard research on how many children are experiencing sustained anxiety about school post-lockdown. The NHS found one in six children aged five to 16 had a probable mental health disorder in the summer of 2020, up from one in nine three years earlier. According to the schools insurer Zurich last year, a staggering 42% of parents felt their children experienced frequent anxiety.Butit's not always clear what that catch-all word "anxiety" means, especially given the long waits many children face for assessment by an NHS specialist. It's a sensitive subject around which Robson treads audibly carefully.

"I think society is better for being accepting of, 'Look, it's OK to say I'm struggling.' I think we would all recognise that we are better off in a world where you don't have to bottle things up," he says, stressing that he doesn't want to sound like a dinosaur. But still, it's complicated. "Some young people are really, really struggling and need some help and support, and I don't think anyone would deny that. Some young people might say that they're socially anxious but not understand that this is perfectly normal, to walk into a room of 200 people and feel a bit anxious. You have not 'got anxiety', you are anxious." He has, he notes, encountered children reportedly too anxious for school but seemingly comfortable enough in a crowd at Middlesbrough Football Club on weekends.

How does a parent tell the difference between normal childhood worries and something more serious? It's important not to over-medicalise children's emotions, says Stevie Goulding, co-manager of the parent helpline at mental health charity Young Minds. Being anxious about exams, for example, is normal and even healthy: "It helps you to focus, to get that adrenaline pumping."

But if anxiety persists when exams are over, or lasts for more than four to six weeks with no obvious trigger, or spills over into home life and activities children normally enjoy, there might be cause for concern. If a child is actively resisting going to school, Goulding recommends sticking to the usual morning routine regardless. "Wake up with the expectation that they get up for school, have their breakfast, get their uniform on, while having awareness that they might not be able to leave the house." Parents should try to establish exactly what's worrying them - perhaps a particular lesson, teacher or friendship - and keep chasing any promised intervention by the school. Many children with special educational needs strive to maintain a normal facade in class and explode only when they get home, she points out, meaning teachers may not always realise how serious things are.

We've really underestimated the impact of Covid. Even youngsters you'd have thought would be fine say their world stopped

Fourteen-year-old Dilly comes across as articulate, charming and chatty over Zoom from home in Essex. The only clue as to the effort that may be costing her is that we're talking on a Sunday morning, because by the end of a school day she's too tired. Dilly is good at "masking", or disguising her autistic traits to fit in, but it wears her out. "A lot of the time I don't realise how big an effort I'm putting in. I only realise when I'm exhausted later and don't have any patience and can't think about anything," she says cheerfully. In a crowded room, she says, she will feel hyper-aware of things others wouldn't register - "people's conversations, people coughing, sniffing, everything" - which can make it overwhelming.

Dilly's school avoidance started at nursery. Can she describe how it feels? "Very anxious. I sort of build up in my head what it's going to be - this is going to happen and if that happens, that's going to happen - like a whole catastrophic thing." Sometimes she starts worrying about the next day as soon as she gets home. "I'll get stressed about what happens tomorrow, or I haven't done this homework and the teacher's going to get cross with me and then I'm going to get upset and this is going to happen. Sometimes there's not a reason - most of the time there is." Her ideal school would be "much more personal, shorter days, no homework and no tests".

Dilly now attends a tiny independent school of only 100 pupils, geared to dealing with her autism and dyslexia. Though it's still sometimes hard to make herself go in, she's motivated by wanting to get some qualifications and fulfil her ambition of becoming a film producer. But, as her mother acknowledges, she's arguably one of the lucky ones.

Stephanie Rocke's son, Alton, was in year one when he stopped wanting to go to his Northamptonshire primary school. Always an anxious child, he began suffering what looked like panic attacks; his year two teacher suggested he might have some form of special educational need, though nobody was quite sure what (he's since been diagnosed with ADHD and autism). Then, disastrously, lockdown hit. "He couldn't engage at all in home learning," Rocke says. "That's when we started seeing the first signs of him hitting himself, calling himself stupid, getting frustrated. After a month we just gave up completely - it was too stressful for everyone." It was only when school resumed that she realised how far behind he was.

He has an EHCP now with a "list of provisions a mile long", which Rocke says the school simply couldn't deliver. "They just say, 'If we don't have the staff available ... '" Every September, he would start out optimistic, only to wind up withdrawn by Christmas and in meltdown by March. By the spring of year five, she says, he wasn't eating, sleeping or interacting with the family. "We kept getting told that he should be going to school, should be getting an education - we knew he wasn't learning, but we felt we'd got to keep doing the right thing and sending him in, even though it didn't feel like the right thing. And he just kept getting worse." This March, the couple removed him; they are waiting to hear if he has got in to a school specialising in autism.

Rocke and her husband, who run their own business, have taken out loans to cover the cost of therapists, psychologists and solicitors to argue their case with the local education authority. Some SEND mothers she knows have given up work to home school. "That's what happens - especially women, especially mothers. They have no career, no job, no lives outside their children because they care for them full-time. It's shocking."

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Suzie is one of those mothers. Her eldest, 16-year-old Amelia, started struggling in social situations in year three of primary. "She started describing herself as an alien on planet Earth: she'd hide in the loos," Suzie recalls. It was the family GP who first mentioned autism. "She was having to put so much energy into holding it all together at school, it was like a Coke bottle that's been shaken: if you take the top off, it explodes everywhere."

'We have to support families to overcome barriers': Jill Wright (on left) and Marie Beale, head and deputy head of Whitefield primary school, Liverpool. Photograph: Jane MacNeil/The Guardian

Moving Amelia to a small private school helped initially, but by year seven she was self-harming and saying she didn't want to live. Just before the first lockdown, her parents began home schooling her.

Meanwhile her younger sister Evie, now 13, was showing signs of distress. "Lockdown really unsettled her and she struggled to go back - we know now it was because she really liked the much calmer environment at home. It showed families there's another way of doing this. We don't have to put them through the hell of school every day." When lockdown ended and Evie returned to school, she had trouble sleeping. Then she stopped eating. "In May 2022 she also turned round and said to us, 'I don't want to be here any more.' School has driven both our daughters to be suicidal," says Suzie, who gave up her job in the wine trade to watch over her daughters and hasn't worked since.

Both girls are now back in school. Evie, who has been diagnosed with ADHD, generalised anxiety disorder and autism, is well enough to attend the same small independent college as her sister and their local education authority eventually agreed to pay their fees on the grounds that no suitable state setting is available. "Every single step of the way we've either had to pay for the help we needed or fight horribly for it," Suzie says. "I'm very lucky we don't need me to rush back to work. We do have the resources to fight for our kids. But so many parents don't and that's why so many kids go missing. They can't cope, there's nothing else and nobody to help them."

All three families belong to a support network run by Square Peg and Not Fine in School, which swelled rapidly last summer ahead of the first term back with no allowances made for Covid- and pressure to get attendance back on track."We had [then education secretary] Gavin Williamson saying, 'We've relaxed the measures, everybody back to normal' but you can't treat a population like a machine that's on or off," says Square Peg's Ellie Costello. More than a third of families in its Facebook group have children with SEND, she says, and some battled for years to get EHCPs, only to find the promised support isn't forthcoming. Yet the law requires them to send their children to school anyway, or risk being taken to court for nonattendance (prosecutions brought by councils have doubled in less than a year, according to the Ministry of Justice, with fines of up to £2,500 - like speeding tickets, they can be issued by magistrates in the parent's absence). While some heads argue that prosecution is a valuable deterrent for otherwise uncooperative parents, Costello points to hard cases such as the lone parent who contacted her after being finedin absentia while undergoing chemotherapy. "She got home to see that the hearing had happened and she owed £800 plus costs. If you don't open your mail, or are on your own and struggling, these notices get lost." Some of the parents she meets have been accused of being "difficult" or adversarial by their children's schools, she says. "But why do people become these things? Because they're not listened to, or they feel judged or blamed."

As children's commissioner, it is De Souza's job to listen. A warm, dynamic steelworker's daughter from Scunthorpe, until early 2021 she ran an academy trust famous for its hard-driving "no excuses" philosophy. But the stories she has heard from children in this job seem to have shifted her perspective. Immediately after being appointed, she held a consultation about how Covid had affected children. "It's really seared on my mind, some of the conversations I had going round the country in March 2021, talking to very socially confident youngsters who you would have thought would be fine but who said, 'Basically my world stopped,'" she says. "I talk to hundreds of children every month, and they will all talk about this. We have really underestimated it."

Initially, she assumed any anxieties about returning to school would fade relatively quickly. But the more she studied attendance data in that first year back, the more it worried her. In hindsight, De Souza thinks children needed more help readjusting to the outside world. "We should have been concerned with children before it was, bang, back into the classroom, into exams. We should have been opening up school buildings, public buildings, got our youth workers and said, 'Children have taken an unbelievable hit, we should be getting them out, having some fun.' I never thought I'd hear myself saying that," she says, laughing. "There's room in schools for fun, for play, for thriving communities."

If you sit in judgment and say, 'You have to do this, you're the parent, you're responsible', you're just adding pressure

It's not, she stresses, that she has abandoned the drive for educational excellence. "The golden thread right through my career has been ensuring kids from the most disadvantaged areas get the opportunities. It's just how and what you need to do to achieve that. I have been able to see more widely, and see even better ways to do that. I realise that we're not islands." Over the summer she discussed with GPs, police and others how they could cooperate in getting missing children back to school. "We need the NHS not to be issuing children with multiple disabilities with appointments on four different days. We need all the services to be seeing attendance for what it is, a proxy for children's wellbeing." School is, she says, critical not just for educational reasons - children with good attendance records do better in GCSEs and A-levels than those without - but for mental health, with research suggesting teenagers in particular are happier when they're around their peers. Sadly, it's also critical for some children's safety. She still wonders whether six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, who died at the hands of his father and stepmother in lockdown, might have lived under a teacher's watchful eye.

Summarising her findings for MPs earlier this year, De Souza identified unmet special educational needs, mental health and young carers missing school to look after their parents as key problems with attendance. A recent government green paper on improving provision was full of good ideas, she says, but needs boosters under it: "My worry is the funding for that is two years down the line - we need it now." Though government plans to train mental health leads in schools are welcome, she says, NHS children's and adolescent mental health services aren't coping with a rise in demand either: "It takes funding, it needs a proper plan." (A spokesperson for the Department of Education said it recognised that the pandemic had affected children's mental health and that some faced greater barriers to attendance than others, adding: "That's why we are ensuring pupils with SEND receive the provision they require through new national standards and earlier intervention, alongside reforms to the SEND system that will give families greater confidence that their children will be able to fulfil their potential through improved mainstream provision in their local area.")

But schools can help, De Souza thinks, by teaching strategies for managing anxiety. Visiting a secondary school in Bolton where a staggering 30 local parents had died of Covid, she expected to find the pupils traumatised; but instead they talked about how teachers had helped them support each other through tough times. "These children were in the worst situations and they were finding a way to grow through it and not let it hold them back." The key, she argues, is fostering emotional resilience, or the ability to bounce back from difficult experiences. And that's what lies behind a pilot project on attendance now under way in a deprived part of Liverpool, a city that has seen its share of hard times.

On a sunny morning in Whitefield primary school, the playground is full. Three small girls are chalking pictures on the tarmac under headteacher Jill Wright's window, while other children play handball or career around in toy cars. Wright introduced longer breaktimes after realising how much children had missed out on playing together during lockdown. But, crucially, her teachers don't just supervise; they join in. "The staff here teach play," Wright explains. "They go out and play to make those relationships with the children."

Relationships are key at Whitefield, a so-called trauma-informed school - one based on understanding how childhood trauma affects development - serving a proud but deeply deprived neighbourhood. Pupils speak 30 languages between them, a third have SEND and almost half are eligible for pupil premium; some have had difficult early lives. But Wright is fiercely ambitious for them and so, she says, are their parents. The school has above average attendance for the area. "I can't think of any of our families who don't want the absolute best for their children, who don't have the same aspirations they'd have if they lived in the [more affluent] south end of the city. It's that some face different barriers we have to support them to overcome." As we walk through calm, orderly classrooms and corridors twinkling with fairy lights, she explains how the school has been geared to reduce anxiety levels.The year six classroom feels almost homelike, with padded seats and a comfy sofa. If a child is absent, teachers tell them when they return that they're part of the school family and it's not the same without them. There are no detentions for bad behaviour but, Wright insists, "That's not to say everyone does what they like."

Instead her deputy Marie Beale has led a programme within school teaching children to regulate their emotions, helping them calm themselves when they're anxious or angry and settle down to learning. Feelings are colour-coded - the red zone is for anger or fear, yellow for anxiety or over-excitement, blue for sadness - to help children identify emotions and understand that they can change zones by using simple strategies such as counting slowly back from 10, playing outside or discussing their feelings with a grownup. Last year Beale began training parents to use these strategies at home, funded by the Leeds-based charity Shine (which works with schools across the north to close the gap between disadvantaged and better off children).

"Instead of coming in saying, 'He's really angry this morning' they can say, 'He's in the red zone, I've tried to get him in, I don't know what to do,'" Beale says. Previously, parents might end up shouting at children to go to school in desperation, but now they have other tools. "Parents who have done the work on emotions, they understand the children are not being awkward."

Yet as at Grangefield, the rules are very clear. Failure to call in and explain absence from school or its attached nursery prompts a call or home visit, and parents are fined for taking term-time holidays. If children are off sick, the school's warm and motherly family liaison officer, Marguerite Young, will use her judgment on whether to call parents and gently try to find out if complaints of tummy ache might be masking something else. "If you know the child, you know the family, you can speak to Mum and say, 'Do you think this is anxiety?' and we will get to the root of it," she explains. Sometimes she'll offer to fetch a child herself in the morning, and some pupils sit with her for 10 minutes before the day starts, to calm themselves. The idea is to do whatever it takes to get anxious children in, so absence doesn't become a habit; parents are reminded that lessons build on each other, so if a child misses one day, the next will be harder. But the key is winning families' trust, Young says. "They know me and I know them, they can ring me on my mobile if they're having a bad morning."

The whole approach, Wright adds, is to walk a mile in parents' shoes rather than blaming them if they can't get their children in. "It's easy to sit in judgment and say, 'You've got to do this, you're the parent, it's your responsibility.' If you say that without underpinning it with support for the child or the parent, you're just adding pressure to an already pressured situation."

While her methods could easily be caricatured as chalk to the more robust cheese offered by Grangefield academy, visiting both reveals not just the hidden nuances but how closely each approach is tailored to local need. Michael Robson acknowledges some communities might find his home visits intrusive; Jill Wright accepts what works in her small primary, where teachers can get to know all the families, might not suit a big, anonymous secondary. But primaries can, she argues, help secondaries by ingraining good habits early on. (Shine's CEO, Helen Rafferty, says research shows children who attend nursery aged two go on to have better school attendance records when they're older.) It's by starting with the youngest children that attendance seems most likely to be cracked in the end. But that isn't much comfort to the families falling by the wayside now.

If Millie's mother Sarah could write education policy, she says wistfully, she'd throw "all the money in the world" at training teachers in neurodiversity. As it is, she and her husband sometimes fantasise about dropping out of the system. "We go on Rightmove and say, 'Let's buy a plot of land in the middle of nowhere, just move there and give up on everything and everyone, and live our lives and be safe,'" she sighs. "But in reality, that's not the way. It's getting the people who have the power to make things change."

The headline of this article was amended on 4 September 2023 to refer to England rather than Britain.

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'Children are holding a mirror up to us': why are England's kids refusing to go to school?

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As a new academic year begins, more children than ever are worried about returning. What's being done to get them into the classroom - and is that always the best idea?