Civic schools reopened in Mumbai amid a cheerful and festive spirit after being shut for 20 months due to Covid-19. Pic/Atul Kamble

Many children wearing uniforms and carrying schools bags appeared happy and excited while entering the premises of various civic-run institutions after a long gap. Pic/Nimesh Dave

Students of Class 1 are physically attending the school after almost two years, an official of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said. Pic/Atul Kamble

Earlier, the schools for students of primary and middle sections were supposed to reopen in the first week of December (on December 1 in Pune and on December 4 in Mumbai), but the decision was postponed due to the emergence of the Omicron variant of coronavirus. Pic/Nimesh Dave

However, some private schools have decided to reopen physical classes after the Christmas vacation. Pic/Atul Kamble

'Schools generally allow long vacation for Christmas. As the state decided to open schools for classes 1 to 7 from December 15 and there was a fear of it being changed at the last minute, some school managements decided to wait till the Christmas holidays are over and reopen physical classes later,' a senior state education officer said. Pic/PTI

But with the situation remaining fluid due to Omicron, it's quite imperative that parents and authorities follow all the appropriate guidelines to contain the spread of new variant. Pic/Shadab Khan