Even as schools in Mumbai reopened for offline classes for Std VIII to XII after about 18 months, there is no one model that fits all. Starting from whether to reopen or not and if children should wear uniforms to the design of hybrid teaching to mix online and offline patterns, schools have come up with their individual plans. Also, BMC and smaller schools saw higher attendance than private schools.

One fact that stood out on Day 1 was the difference in attendance based on the demographics of students that a school is catering to. Civic schools, government-aided or other small schools offering state board curriculum saw a large number of children for offline classes. But the ones catering to the privileged class had few students walking in. Educationists said this was a rather expected version of the reality, thanks to the digital divide underlined several times all through the pandemic.