Heartbreaking photos showing children playing in ‘isolation zones’ after schools in France reopened caused shock and outcry.
Taken in the town of Tourcoing, the photo shows nursery school children forced to stay away from each other inside squares or isolation zones drawn out with chalk.
This comes after children were allowed to go back to classes after two months of coronavirus lockdown as the government relaxed restrictions.
Historian Laurence De Cock, who shared the photo on social media, wrote: “I can’t get over this. This image is heartbreaking. We can’t call this ‘school.’”
Lionel Top of the BFM news channel took the photo and said the kids had been told to stay in their designated areas.
Two other photos show children separated in classrooms by tape and lining up for lessons by sitting or standing on crosses painted on the ground.
“To ensure respect for distances, while taking advantage of recreation, the teaching team drew squares on the ground for the little ones,” Top reported. “The children play, dance, jump, laugh together … but from this square. From what we have seen, they do not view it as a punishment.”
However, many people expressed their anger and sadness at the scene which looked like a horror scene.
One Twitter user commented: “I’ve never seen such a sad picture. It’s horrible to subject children to this.”
Another Twitter user wrote: “Just inhuman, shameful for children but also for teachers and institutes! What horror !!!!”
A third added: “The picture of the children in the chalk squares will eventually illustrate this very strange situation in the history books.”
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Education in Paris said that there was no ‘specific instruction’ for teachers but confirmed that everyone must ‘maintain social distancing’ and avoid sharing school materials, spaces and other objects.
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