The first day back is a tangle of emotions and trauma as the youngsters search out their friends and teachers, learning the grim truth about who has died and hugging fellow pupils who lived through the December 26 disaster.

"I haven't got the will to study," said student Narges Ayar, still haunted by the disaster that struck as this ancient southeastern Iranian town was sleeping.

"When I open a book I see the faces of the children killed and our ruined city. We all need psychological help."

Between 30,000 and 35,000 people are estimated to have perished when the quake hit, wiping out most of the buildings and flattening the famous citadel, once the world's oldest mud-built fortress.

With the help of the United Nations children's fund UNICEF and the Iranian Red Crescent, local officials gathered in tents and prefabricated buildings across Bam for the grim task of gauging the full scale of the tragedy by registering surviving pupils and teachers.

The Iranian authorities are planning to erect some 15,000 temporary buildings, many of them to be used to replace the city's 131 schools that were destroyed or damaged beyond use.

But it will be a few days before classes are properly back up and running, and the children are without schoolbags or exercise books.

The head of Kerman province's education department, Mohammad Taghi-Zadeh, told AFP that an estimated 1,200 teachers and 10,000 pupils died.

At least 6,000 children had lost at least one parent, he said, while the the number of orphans has been put at 1,800.

Sanaz Sefid Garzaleh, 13, put on a brave face as she scoured the groups of pupils trying to find at least one of her schoolfriends. But she found none.

"The other day I saw my history teacher. He asked if I had seen any other teachers but I said no."

Sanaz's family is already coping with tragedy, having lost her father and two brothers in the December 26 quake. She now shares a makeshift tent with her mother and sister.

"I want to return to my studies anyway. I want to learn a profession, even go to university," said Sanaz, clad in the all-covering Islamic black chador. What her future will be "it will be God who decides."

Her friend Fatimeh says that despite the vast numbers of dead children, the Iranian authorities are unlikely to ease their strict religiious rules and allow boys and girls in the same classroom.

Anyway, she said: "Boys hassle us and it would be against Islam."

UNICEF spokesman Marc Vergara said Bam has 38,000 children registered for school, but believes only between 2,000 and 3,000 of those who survived still live in the city.

"I want to know what's become of my pupils, I can't find any of them and I'm very worried," said computer studies teacher Fatimeh Farhangi, who was given little hope that computers destroyed in the quake would be quickly replaced.

"While I'm waiting, I'd like to teach physics or maths because it is very important that classes resume," she added.

TERRA.WIRE