"Heartbreaking" photos of children in a French nursery have shown how social distancing is being implemented in their schoolyard.
Each of the youngsters has been placed into an "isolation square" and this could provide a blueprint for what other schools and nurseries will do once they start to once again open their gates and welcome back children.
Related - This family embraced social distancing to wish their 95-year-old grandmother happy birthday:The pictures were taken in the northern town of Tourcoing, on the Belgian border, on Tuesday, as the French government began to ease the coronavirus restrictions which have been in place for two months.
Historian Laurence De Cock posted the picture on Twitter and captioned it (translated from French): "I can't get over this. This image is heartbreaking. We can't call this 'school'."
The snap itself, however, was taken by Lionel Top, a TV journalist with the BFM news channel, and he revealed that the children - who were all aged between three and four - had been told to stay in their squares.
Other youngsters, pictured below, were required to follow similar measures at Calandreta Aimat Serre school in France.
Social distancing was also implemented at the L'Ermitage International School in Maisons-Laffitte, near Paris.
Lionel Top explained of the image: "To ensure respect for distances, while taking advantage of recreation, the teaching team drew squares on the ground for the little ones.
"The children play, dance, jump, laugh together… but from this square.
"From what we have seen, they do not view it as a punishment.
"But other commentators expressed their sadness and anger at a scene which looked like it was out of a 'horror film'."
Social media users were also shocked by the pictures, with some branding them "dystopian".
A spokesman for the Ministry of Education in Paris said that French teachers haven't been given "specific instruction" to draw chalk squares on the ground to enforce social distancing.
However, he did confirm that all staff in France's schools are under instruction to "maintain social distancing".
