Current Issue (Vol 61, No. 2 | July, 2026)

The paper examines how the emotional world of children is shaped by their everyday experiences at a residential school in Delhi. The school caters exclusively to the needs of poor Dalit children. The ethnographic fieldwork and survey data in this work indicate that fear is the dominant emotion among children, reflected in their daily routines inside and outside the classroom. Children are active agents in meaning-making, so the genesis, nature, and magnitude of fear vary. The study reveals a significant difference between boys and girls, indicating that gender plays an important role in the children’s emotional world. Also, the home-school continuum was evident in children's emotive expressions. The school has not created adequate curricular, pedagogical, and infrastructural spaces to engage with children's fears at school. This research highlights the need for educationists, policymakers, and researchers to recognise and address the prevalence of fear in growing children, as it can significantly impact their social and emotional well-being.