Burmese children may have to attend classes in relief camps and tents because 85 percent of school buildings were destroyed or severely damaged.

With the school year to begin on June 1, Unicef said there is no time to rebuild the estimated 2,700 severely damaged primary schools or to replace teachers killed or missing.

Instead, the focus is on training volunteer teachers, providing as many as 300,000 school kits for affected students and setting up schools using tarps, tents and even bamboo.

"Children have been through a terrible tragedy and trauma," said Cliff Meyers of Unicef. Getting back to a normal pattern by attending schools "helps them adjust to the tragedy and overcome the horrors they have been through."

ASSOCIATED PRESS