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Vacant seats, unanswered roll calls in Ahmedabad schools

Prithvi Shah in Ahmedabad

As schools reopened in Ahmedabad on Friday and students looked for friends among familiar faces, vacant seats and unanswered roll calls were grim reminders of the tragedy that may have altered their lives forever.

Although it has been almost 20 days since the earthquake that killed thousands in Gujarat, it was hardly a normal day of learning and fun in schools. Attendance was thin and many students refused to sit in their classrooms.

In more than twenty schools repairs were under way, while some schools had made make-shift arrangements to hold classes.

Students were sent home after a truncated two-hour session. This time too was used to counsel children on dealing with trauma.

Getting students to the schools was not easy either. The first hurdle school managements faced was convincing parents that it was safe now let their children out of their sight.

Some schools had parent-teacher sessions wherein several points like the safety of school buildings and examination schedules were discussed.

Janik Purohit, a parent, told rediff.com that he was frightened to send his children to school because of the frequent after-shocks.

"Children are scared too. They have seen pictures from Anjaar...they have heard about the death of 400 school children," he said.

Most parents did not had the courage to leave their children alone and stood outside school gates waiting to take them home.

As far as students were concerned, they looked glad to be back with their friends. "It was getting boring at home. People these days discuss nothing but quake. I am glad to be back with my friends, though some of them are no longer there," said a student.

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