AP PHOTOS: Around the world, classrooms are eerily empty
The schoolyard of Achille Peretti school is pictured through a window in Neuilly-sur-Seine outside Paris, March 14, 2020. AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
An empty classroom is seen inside a government run school after authorities ordered to close down all schools and universities as a precautionary measure against COVID-19 in Colombo, Sri Lanka, March 13, 2020. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
A teacher walks along a hallway of an empty public school in small Spanish Basque village of Labastida, northern Spain, March 11, 2020. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)
An empty classroom is seen in a closed primary school in Ramat Gan, Israel, March 15, 2020. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
An empty courtyard is seen at a closed school in Paris, March 16, 2020. France plans to close all creches, schools and universities from Monday until further notice to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus, President Emmanuel Macron says. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Student’s chairs are stacked on top of desks in an empty classroom at closed Robertson Elementary School, March 16, 2020, in Yakima, Wash. (Amanda Ray/Yakima Herald-Republic via AP)
FILE -- In this Friday, March 13, 2020 photo a slogan on a chalkboard reads ‘It’s Corona Time’ in an empty class room of a high school in Frankfurt, Germany, March 13, 2020. Germany plans to let smaller shops reopen next week after a weeks-long coronavirus shutdown and to start reopening schools in early May, but Europe’s biggest economy is keeping strict social distancing rules in place for now. (AP Photo/Michael Probst, file)
A member of Indonesian Red Cross sprays disinfectant in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak in a class room at a school in Jakarta, Indonesia, March 16, 2020. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
A puzzle sits on a table in a classroom at a closed school in Paris, March 16, 2020. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
A worker walks out of a building at Wits University school of art in Johannesburg, South Africa, March 16, 2020. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a national state of disaster. Ramaphosa said all schools will be closed for 30 days. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
Custodian Joan Garner washes the floor in the pool locker room at Orange High School, March 16, 2020, in Pepper Pike, Ohio. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Thursday ordered every school in Ohio to close for three weeks beginning at day’s end Monday. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)
An empty classroom is seen at a closed school in Sanaa, Yemen, March 15, 2020. The Houthi rebels, who control the capital, Sanaa, and the country’s north announced the closure of classes in areas under their control for a month as part of a preventive measure taken against the spread of the new coronavirus. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)
A worker disinfects a classroom at a school that has suspended classes as a precautionary measure against the new coronavirus in San Juan city in Manila, Philippines, March 9, 2020. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Student desks sit in the shade next to the parking lot of the closed Francisco Beckman high school, where a professor who died of the coronavirus worked, on the outskirts of Panama City, March 12, 2020, on the first day that schools closed nation-wide. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco)
The schoolyard of Achille Peretti school is pictured through a window in Neuilly-sur-Seine outside Paris, March 14, 2020. AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
The schoolyard of Achille Peretti school is pictured through a window in Neuilly-sur-Seine outside Paris, March 14, 2020. AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
An empty classroom is seen inside a government run school after authorities ordered to close down all schools and universities as a precautionary measure against COVID-19 in Colombo, Sri Lanka, March 13, 2020. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
An empty classroom is seen inside a government run school after authorities ordered to close down all schools and universities as a precautionary measure against COVID-19 in Colombo, Sri Lanka, March 13, 2020. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
A teacher walks along a hallway of an empty public school in small Spanish Basque village of Labastida, northern Spain, March 11, 2020. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)
A teacher walks along a hallway of an empty public school in small Spanish Basque village of Labastida, northern Spain, March 11, 2020. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)
An empty classroom is seen in a closed primary school in Ramat Gan, Israel, March 15, 2020. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
An empty classroom is seen in a closed primary school in Ramat Gan, Israel, March 15, 2020. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
An empty courtyard is seen at a closed school in Paris, March 16, 2020. France plans to close all creches, schools and universities from Monday until further notice to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus, President Emmanuel Macron says. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
An empty courtyard is seen at a closed school in Paris, March 16, 2020. France plans to close all creches, schools and universities from Monday until further notice to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus, President Emmanuel Macron says. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Student’s chairs are stacked on top of desks in an empty classroom at closed Robertson Elementary School, March 16, 2020, in Yakima, Wash. (Amanda Ray/Yakima Herald-Republic via AP)
Student’s chairs are stacked on top of desks in an empty classroom at closed Robertson Elementary School, March 16, 2020, in Yakima, Wash. (Amanda Ray/Yakima Herald-Republic via AP)
FILE -- In this Friday, March 13, 2020 photo a slogan on a chalkboard reads ‘It’s Corona Time’ in an empty class room of a high school in Frankfurt, Germany, March 13, 2020. Germany plans to let smaller shops reopen next week after a weeks-long coronavirus shutdown and to start reopening schools in early May, but Europe’s biggest economy is keeping strict social distancing rules in place for now. (AP Photo/Michael Probst, file)
FILE -- In this Friday, March 13, 2020 photo a slogan on a chalkboard reads ‘It’s Corona Time’ in an empty class room of a high school in Frankfurt, Germany, March 13, 2020. Germany plans to let smaller shops reopen next week after a weeks-long coronavirus shutdown and to start reopening schools in early May, but Europe’s biggest economy is keeping strict social distancing rules in place for now. (AP Photo/Michael Probst, file)
A member of Indonesian Red Cross sprays disinfectant in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak in a class room at a school in Jakarta, Indonesia, March 16, 2020. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
A member of Indonesian Red Cross sprays disinfectant in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak in a class room at a school in Jakarta, Indonesia, March 16, 2020. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
A puzzle sits on a table in a classroom at a closed school in Paris, March 16, 2020. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
A puzzle sits on a table in a classroom at a closed school in Paris, March 16, 2020. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
A worker walks out of a building at Wits University school of art in Johannesburg, South Africa, March 16, 2020. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a national state of disaster. Ramaphosa said all schools will be closed for 30 days. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
A worker walks out of a building at Wits University school of art in Johannesburg, South Africa, March 16, 2020. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a national state of disaster. Ramaphosa said all schools will be closed for 30 days. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
Custodian Joan Garner washes the floor in the pool locker room at Orange High School, March 16, 2020, in Pepper Pike, Ohio. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Thursday ordered every school in Ohio to close for three weeks beginning at day’s end Monday. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)
Custodian Joan Garner washes the floor in the pool locker room at Orange High School, March 16, 2020, in Pepper Pike, Ohio. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Thursday ordered every school in Ohio to close for three weeks beginning at day’s end Monday. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)
An empty classroom is seen at a closed school in Sanaa, Yemen, March 15, 2020. The Houthi rebels, who control the capital, Sanaa, and the country’s north announced the closure of classes in areas under their control for a month as part of a preventive measure taken against the spread of the new coronavirus. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)
An empty classroom is seen at a closed school in Sanaa, Yemen, March 15, 2020. The Houthi rebels, who control the capital, Sanaa, and the country’s north announced the closure of classes in areas under their control for a month as part of a preventive measure taken against the spread of the new coronavirus. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)
A worker disinfects a classroom at a school that has suspended classes as a precautionary measure against the new coronavirus in San Juan city in Manila, Philippines, March 9, 2020. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
A worker disinfects a classroom at a school that has suspended classes as a precautionary measure against the new coronavirus in San Juan city in Manila, Philippines, March 9, 2020. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Student desks sit in the shade next to the parking lot of the closed Francisco Beckman high school, where a professor who died of the coronavirus worked, on the outskirts of Panama City, March 12, 2020, on the first day that schools closed nation-wide. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco)
Student desks sit in the shade next to the parking lot of the closed Francisco Beckman high school, where a professor who died of the coronavirus worked, on the outskirts of Panama City, March 12, 2020, on the first day that schools closed nation-wide. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco)
Schools have shut their doors to students as tens of millions of people around the world are hunkered down in government-ordered isolation in hopes of stopping or at least slowing the advance of the coronavirus pandemic.
Teachers have been sent home and have been preparing for online classes, while parents have begun using lesson plans that include flash cards, online learning, dog walks and creativity sessions.
Signs of hasty retreats from the schools are everywhere. In Paris, pieces of a puzzle are scattered on a desk in an abandoned school; in Frankfurt, Germany, a chalkboard still reads “It’s Corona Time!” in a high school classroom filled with empty desks.
In schools from Manila, in the Philippines, to Panama City, Panama, AP photographers captured the eeriness of empty desks stacked up on tables, deep classroom cleanings and abandoned basketball courts.