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In Denmark, Students Go Back to School, 6 Feet Apart

By Emma Patti Harris — April 20, 2020 1 min read
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Last week, Denmark became the first European country to allow daycare and primary schools to reopen since the start of the coronavirus lockdown. The classroom setups included desks spaced six feet apart. (In Denmark, which uses the metric system, it’s actually 1.829 meters.) One teacher at the Korshoejskolen school in Randers, Denmark, held a music lesson outdoors to maintain social distancing.

Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, right, speaks to students during the April 15 reopening of Lykkebo School in Copenhagen.
Rebekka Hjorth conducts an outdoor music lesson at the Korshoejskolen in Randers, Denmark, April 15, 2020.
Some classrooms were moved into gymnasiums in order to maintain appropriate social distancing at the Stengaard School in Gladsaxe, Denmark.
Claus Moeller, the principal of Stengaard School, prepares for the reopening of his school after the coronavirus lockdown, in Gladsaxe, Denmark.
A sticker reading “Smiling is contagious” is seen at the playground at Stengaard School in Gladsaxe, Denmark.
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, second left, welcomes students back to school at the reopening of Lykkebo School in Copenhagen.
Classrooms at the Stengaard School are prepared for reopening after the coronavirus lockdown.
Claus Moeller, the principal of Stengaard School, inspects how a classroom has been set up in the gymnasium to maintain social distancing one day before his school reopened.

A version of this article first appeared in the Full Frame blog.

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