Though schools around the globe have different start dates, calendars and traditions, the first day of a new term is an exciting time filled with the prospects of gaining more knowledge, making new friends and building community. Here: Schoolchildren attend their first lesson on Knowledge Day in the town of Turov, Zhytkavichy District, Gomel Region, Belarus on September 1, 2017. Knowledge Day marks the beginning of a new school year in Belarus and is celebrated on September 1. (Photo by Viktor Drachev/TASS via Getty Images)

Girls take part in the traditional seasonal Christmas run along the streets of Vilnius, Lithuania, Sunday, December 17, 2017. The festive run attracts many hundreds of people to the capital dressed as Santa Clause to take part in the sporting event. (Photo by Mindaugas Kulbis/AP Photo)

Shakar Rustami (L) and Zulaikha Amini, organizers of the“'Smart Way” book and painting exhibition stand in front of painting in Kabul, Afghanistan, 21 August 2023. Young female artists in Kabul held a painting exhibition to express the restrictions imposed by the Taliban on women and girls. The exhibition also featured books displayed by students to promote reading culture. Some of the girls called for the Taliban to lift the restrictions against women and girls. Many female students turned to painting and drawing after schools and universities closed. (Photo by Samiullah Popal/EPA/EFE)

An Iraqi woman, dressed as Santa Claus, rides her bicycle amid the spread of the coronavirus in the old city of Mosul, Iraq, December 18, 2020. (Photo by Abdullah Rashid/Reuters)

Afghan boys stand on a snow-covered street on the TV mountain in Kabul, Afghanistan on January 25, 2023. (Photo by Ali Khara/Reuters)

Relatives mourn over the shrouded body of Mohammad Abed, who is killed in an Israeli airstrike on a shelter in Gaza City, during his funeral in Gaza City, on April 19, 2025. (Photo by Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Women wearing bikinis and Santa Claus hats participate in a promotional event to celebrate the upcoming Christmas at a ski resort in Xuchang, Henan province, December 23, 2014. Ten women wore Santa Claus-themed bikinis to welcome the coming Christmas in temperatures below zero Celsius. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

A Palestinian youth throws a stone at an Israeli military vehicle during an Israeli army raid in the Balata refugee camp near the West Bank town of Nablus, Saturday, May 13, 2023. the Israeli military raided the Balata refugee camp in the northern city of Nablus, sparking a firefight that killed two Palestinians. (Photo by Majdi Mohammed/AP Photo)