Children’s Day
As a former schoolteacher, and a teacher of RE (Religious Education) at that, I have taken my fair share of school assemblies.
For those readers who are not in the UK, and indeed for many who are in the UK, the idea of the school assembly might need a little explanation. The Education Act of 1870 established a system of compulsory schooling in Britain. Amongst the provisions of the law were the fact that every school had to start the day with a collective act of worship and once a week there should be a lesson of Religious Instruction (RI) or Religious Education (RE). Until the Education Reform Act of 1988, which introduced the National Curriculum, RE was the the only compulsory subject on the school curriculum, although a school which didn’t offer lessons in other subjects such as English and Maths might well have raised a few eyebrows.
The Daily Act of Worship was the school assembly.
(I describe in another postcard the sort of assembly we had when I was a schoolboy)
By the time I started my teaching career, however, the assembly had already undergone a huge number of changes. In most schools it was no longer an “Act of Worship” in keeping with the multi racial, multi cultural, multi faith society which Britain had become. Most assemblies now became a sort of platform for a “thought for the day”.
In many places it wasn’t physically possible for the whole school to gather in one place, so many schools organized group assemblies, (year group or House assemblies) on a rotational basis, so that each group might gather together just once or twice a week. Each form or class would then be given some time to have an uplifting theme or talk in their classrooms … but this was, in my opinion, just a sop to the law as it was more often ignored or used for other purposes rather than observed for its official purpose.
Whenever it was my turn to take an assembly, I knew that the most useful assemblies were the ones that were direct and attracted attention. On one occasion I dressed up as a showman working a fair stall attraction, in a red and white stripped jacket, white trousers and straw boater … the Headmaster looked at me askance and with a worried frown warned me about working the kids up, getting them high and out of control … we were preparing for a massive charity fund-raising effort, I thought it was appropriate … and the “roll up, roll up” routine went down well … and we achieved quite reasonable results.
It was often difficult thinking of a theme for an assembly. I had, however, a routine that helped me. If there was no obvious theme, then look for an upcoming anniversary or special occasion and I always tried tried to find a personal “hook” to attract their attention and help make the message more immediate and direct.
One year, for example, on December 1st – World AIDS Day – I told them about three of mine. It was early on in the days of the AIDS epidemic … there was a lot of hype and hysteria about AIDS and HIV in the press … before the days of retro viruses and other “treatments”. There were lots of statistics about the number of people infected and much, much comment about how it was “incurable.” After having “introduced” my friends, with a few interesting facts, I dropped in the fact that each of them were infected with the virus. I pointed out that every one of those statistics were more than just a “number”, they were a person with family and friends. It was easy to dismiss them as numbers until you “knew” someone who was affected. Then you could put the story into context, give it a scale, see the real human aspect. Next time they saw the a news story about AIDS which quoted statistics about the number of people infected with HIV they could “borrow” one of my friends … to help them think about what the story actually meant to those living with it.
Some days obviously offered many more opportunities for suitable themes than others. For June 1st, for example … On this day in history:
| Theme | Event or “Hook” | |||
| You never know what might happen … or … How are the mighty fallen? |
Anne Boleyn was crowned Queen of England in 1533 | |||
| Poles Apart | James Ross discovered the North Magnetic Pole in 1831 and Scott’s expedition left England for the South Pole in 1910 | |||
| A simple idea, with a big impact | In computing, Hollerith’s punch card tabulating machines are used for the first time in conducting the US Census in 1890 | |||
| Somebody knew … or … It’s difficult to keep a secret |
in 1942, the first press reports about the Nazi death camps are published in Poland … | |||
| Everyone has a “personal” story | Paula Hitler, Adolf’s sister, dies in 1960 | |||
| Overcoming all odds … or … It’s worth the effort |
Helen Keller died in 1968 | |||
| Pop Culture | Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was released in 1967 … or … Superman makes his first Appearance in Action Comics No1, in 1938 |
|||
| New beginnings | In Rhodesia, in 1979, Ian Smith hands over power to Bishop Muzeweira ending ninety years of White rule |
If the worst came to the worst … there was always the fallback: it’s the 152nd day of the year … with 213 days left to the end of the year (which means about 165 shopping days left to Christmas).
June 1st, however, has a fairly obvious theme for an assembly … it’s International Children’s Day.
There is a lot of confusion surrounding the International Children’s Day. In fact there are a number of days dedicated to Children which are celebrated around the world … on different days of the year, for example: April 23rd in Turkey, May 5th in Japan, May 27th in Nigeria, the first Sunday in July in Australia, The second Sunday in August in Argentins, Argentina, November 20th, the second Sunday in December … but in Kyrgyzstan, and most the former communist countries, it is celebrated on June 1st.
In Germany, the situation is further complicated in that during the cold war both East and West German celebrated the occasion on different days, (June 1st in the East and September 20th in the West). Following the reunification of the country the September date was adopted as the official day, but many people in the East still commemorate the day in June.
Why June 1st was chosen as the International Children’s Day is not known, although that was when the World Conference for the Well-being of Children which adopted the “holiday” was held in Geneva, in 1925. (There is also a story associated with it that the Chinese Consul in San Fransisco gathered together a number of orphans to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival, which that year fell on June 1st … the same day as the conference).
On the other hand, November 20 marks the anniversary of the day when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, in 1959. The Convention on the Rights of the Child was also signed on November 20th, in 1989, and it has since been ratified by 191 states.
In Kyrgyzstan:
Although it is not an official holiday, the day is called the Day of Children’s Safety, (“Dehn Zashit deti”) and is marked throughout the country with special events, such as concerts, displays of children’s artwork and parties, especially in schools.
This year, there was a party and show on May31st at the youth club where some of the kids go, but I was on my way back from Naryn was so unable to go. Also, all the rides in Dietsky Park, (Children’s Park), were free of charge. I was busy at work, but the kids all went.
Kyrgyzstan is a young country in more ways than one … Created just about twenty years ago, in 1991, out of the breakup of the Soviet Union, more than half of the population is under 25 years old and a third between the ages of 14 and 28. This is about twice what you would find in most Western countries.
Young people are seen nowadays as very important resource for development of the country. The number of, and frustrations felt by young, ambitious, talented and well educated young people unable to achieve their ambitions – in many cases unable to find suitable employment, is thought to have been one of the spurs behind the Easter Revolution which ousted former President Bakiev.
The Interim Government that replaced him recognized this by creating a special Ministry for Youth … in addition to the more traditional Education and other departments that look after social policy.
“It is important for us to know what young people dream about, it is important to keep succession of power, it is as much important to find new ways of development of the country. We should prepare leaders, who will govern the country then,” said a government official, who added that, “young people should implement their ideas themselves”.
Now, there’s a whole host of themes for different assemblies.
Bishkek