Children’s Feelings and Self Perceptions: Insights from Middle School Classrooms in the Aspirational Districts within India’s North-East Region

The National Education Policy 2020 and National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy Bharat Mission, initiated during COVID-19 pandemic crisis, emphasized universal foundational literacy and numeracy alongside holistic, child-centered pedagogy. Within this framework, the study examined middle school children’s emotional experiences and self-perceptions of well-being across 16 schools randomly selected under the supervision of State Authorities from eight aspirational districts (two schools per district) located in eight states of India’s North-East Region. Using the Me and My Feelings tool, data were collected from 257 children studying in Grades VII and VIII during academic year 2022-23 to assess emotional and behavioral difficulties. Results indicated that children most frequently reported emotions such as loneliness, worry, anger, and unhappiness as situational (“sometimes”), rather than persistent (“always”), underscoring the contextual nature of emotional experiences. Positive states, particularly calmness, were consistently reported, highlighting resilience among a subset of children. Variability analysis of children’s self-reported feelings revealed high dispersion in calmness and temper loss, while harmful behaviors showed low variability, suggesting normative rejection of aggression. Gender differences were descriptively observed but was not found statistically significant, whereas scheduled tribe children reported higher loneliness, pointing to sociocultural vulnerabilities. Overall, findings demonstrated that children’s emotional well-being was fluid, intersectional, and integral to learning outcomes. The study underscored the importance of integrating socio-emotional learning into classroom practices and policy initiatives to foster inclusive, resilient, and joyful learning environments.