Unsettling images reveal what back to school looks like around the world

As South Africa begins to reopen schools this month, Parent24 takes a look at what the return to schooling in the era of Covid-19 looks like around the world.

And while it is important that schools get back to teaching, the images can be unsettling. 

The carefree days of playing with friends and closely engaging with educators are behind us, and carefully managed physical distancing, in addition to sterile and sanitised classrooms, and students in masks and gloves are the norm for now.

Take a look at these images from around the world:

Above: A man takes a high school final year student's temperature after schools reopened from two months of break due to the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic restrictions in Tunis, Tunisia on May 28, 2020.

Above: Senior students study in a classroom with transparent boards placed on each desk to separate each other as a precautionary measure against the spread of COVID-19 at Wuhan No. 23 Middle School on May 6, 2020 in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China.

About 57,800 students in their final year from 121 high and vocational schools returned to campus on Wednesday in Wuhan, the city previously hard hit by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Above: A school employee, Marie-Jo, disinfects desks while students are on their morning break at the Tanger B elementary school on its second day resuming classes on May 15, 2020 in the 19th Arrondissement of Paris, France.

Also read: Back to school: What parents and pupils need to know

Of the usual 224 students only 26 were able to attend this day due to the new rules to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

France is beginning to ease its nationwide lockdown imposed to curb the spread of Covid-19, which has killed more than 27,000 people in the country.

Above: A teacher cleans a school desk with sanitary cleaner during a lesson in a classroom with school desks spaced apart to respect social distancing measures to counter the spread of COVID-19 on May 12, 2020 in Borgosesia, Italy.

Italy was the first country to impose a nationwide lockdown to stem the transmission of the Coronavirus (Covid-19), but this project by the Borgosesia maYor aims to open schools with the correct safety measures.

Above: A teacher reads a book to kindergarten children in a school garden.

The municipality of Ivrea in Italy, as part of a pilot test to see how schools can reopen after Covid-19 coronavirus lockdown, opened the gardens of two kindergarten schools. 

Above: A teacher plays guitar in a school garden in the municipality of Ivrea, in Italy.

The municipality opened the gardens of two kindergarten schools as part of a pilot test to see how schools can reopen after Covid-19 coronavirus lockdown.

Above: Italian army soldiers belonging to specialist teams Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) sanitize the kindergarden Città della Gioia (City of Joy) inside the Nostra Signora di Lourdes church in Rome.

Also read: 'I'm a teacher. We are going back to school. We do not have a choice in this matter.'

Churches in Italy are set to reopen for the faithful to attend public Mass, in limited numbers and under strict guidelines, on May 18 for the first time since March 8.

Above: A girl is returning to school on May 11, 2020 in Haarlem, Netherlands as are all children who are in elementary school.

All elementary schools have reopened on Monday now that the Dutch government has eased the lockdown regulations that kept all schools closed for the last eight weeks.

Above: A student named Idriss attends the Tanger B elementary school on its second day resuming classes on May 15, 2020 in the 19th Arrondissement of Paris, France.

Of the usual 224 students only 26 were able to attend this day due to the new rules to fight the coronavirus pandemic. France is beginning to ease its nationwide lockdown imposed to curb the spread of Covid-19, which has killed more than 27,000 people in the country.

Above: Students wearing face masks attend a class on the first day of school after the relief of emergency measures due to the Covid-19 outbreak at Santa Maria high school in Sintra, Portugal, on May 18, 2020.

Portugal has started a second phase to ease lockdown with new measures like the reopening of nurseries, high school classes and the reopening of some street shops, cafes, restaurants, museums and monuments.

Find out more about South Africa's return to schools here

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