mumbai when aaryan arole first heard that his school might reopen after all the first thing he did was yank out his uniform locked down for eighteen months i cant wait to meet my friends and teachers play football and eat from the cafeteria even the thought of boarding my school bus feels exciting says the class ten student of dr pillai global academy except for one problem the uniform of this 15yearold who was 13 when schools shut down in march last year no longer fits thats led to another conundrum ive grown a few inches taller and suddenly everything is small i hope the school allows casuals for the rest of the yearwhile kids like aaryan are ready to stir out of their pandemic bunker with a brave smile and brand new backpacks many parents arent as families prepare for a return to inperson learning for classes 8 to 12 from monday runofthemill worries have been overtaken by fresh concerns leaving parents of students from preschool to high school more anxious than usualthough some are ready to handle the transition to a more stable interactive learning environment for their child trapped in a screen for more than a year the possibility that their kid might get infected while sharing a school bus or getting too close to their classmates during assembly games and lunch hour are challenges that pandemicwary parents are finding hard to shrug offim not hot about the return especially because theres been a rise in cases among children and theres still no definite vaccination plan for minors says ashish banerjee father of a class nine boy from peddar roadeven as schools scramble to figure ways to help remote learners reacclimate to physical classrooms with sops on how children will be seated shepherded or taught through a hybrid model of inperson and online classes putting brakes on a childs impulses can be a task getting kids to follow an orderly route to and from class canteen or washroom may become more difficult during lunch and toilet breaks worries banerjeesutapa bhagat coordinator for eurokids and mum to a class eight child cant help but fret about kids playing hooky to make up for days lost in lockdown with one batch in school and another at home wont maintaining two attendance registers be a challenge what if some kids decide to naughtily skip school parents may think theyre in class and teachers might believe theyre at home she ponders adding how staggered start times and rotational routines would throw working parents out of gearanother stumbling block for parents is healthcare protocol for children who test positive for covid theres no talk about whether there will be a special helpline for cases or if schools should have a proper infirmary says banerjeethe decision regarding reopening of schools for junior classes will come through after the festive season but anxiety has been several notches higher among parents of primary school children especially those making the more difficult