When schools reopened in the Downingtown Area School District in Chester County, Pennsylvania, after being closed in a Coronavirus-induced lockdown last year, Lakshmi Iyer, author and mother to three girls, remembers experiencing mixed emotions. But, her fears were quickly put to rest. The school, where her daughters study, opened in a phased manner from September 2020, and children with “extreme special needs” were among the first to return to the classroom. Iyer’s 12-year-old twins, who have moderate special needs, were called in by November last year, attending classes four days a week. The rules—stipulated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the local bodies—related to assigned seating, wearing the mask at all times, and maintaining hand hygiene were being followed strictly throughout. 

“These students made up just about 10 per cent of the total school population. So, they still had space to spread out within the classroom,” she tells mid-day in a telephonic interview. By March 2021, the school was opened to all its students, and her youngest daughter, who is seven, also went back to attending physical classes twice a week. For many parents, who had been juggling work and home duties during the pandemic, this came as a respite.