French children play together from individual chalk boxes.

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Children went back to school in France on Monday, the classes are voluntary and are held under a strict health protocol to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

The French journalist, Lionel Top has tweeted some photographs of children in the playground, separated by chalk marked boxes so that they're kept at a safe distance from each other.

The images have provoked a raft of comments of sadness and desolation on social media.

“The children did not look sad” said Top. “The kids were playing, dancing, jumping and laughing together from their boxes and from what we saw, they didn’t see it as a punishment,” he said on Twitter.

Only Primary Schools in the areas least affected by the pandemic are open, but High Schools and Vocational High schools will reopen on May 18 and all schools are expected to be up and running from May 25.

The return to school is being carried out under strict security measures with just 15 students per classroom and students attending school on alternate days or weeks, with half of them taking face-to-face classes and the other half continuing their classes from home.