More than 220,000 children in almost 1,000 schools in earthquake-affected regions of southern Peru are waiting for news about when they can return to school.

Bryan, nine, from Pisco, is anxious to get back to class: "We'll probably have to study in the streets or in a tent, maybe, as our school is in bad shape after the earthquake."

Meanwhile, Azucena, 11, who attends primary school in Pisco, says she loves school and has lots of fun. Now she says she's bored spending all day with her family in a tent made out of bed sheets. "I feel sad because I was in fifth grade and we were going to have a party for all of our friends graduating from sixth grade, now there will be nothing. So many of us have lost friends and family so we're all feeling very sad."

An important next step in the process is reaching out to parents, said Baltazar Lantaron, Regional Director of Education in Ica. "We need to send out some positive messages to parents about how important it is to get children back to school and to help them through this transition period," he said. "We also need to ensure that school curriculum can be adapted to deal with the current situation. Students are not going to have the physical and emotional capacity to return to the same point of their studies pre-earthquake."

According to Peru's Ministry of Education, children such as Azucena and Bryan will most likely return to school in a prefabricated classroom erected on or near the site of their damaged school; more than 300 are being installed in a first effort in Pisco and in three…