The youngest pupils are to return to Scotland's classrooms for face-to-face teaching from next week.
The move will see all children in P1 to P3 and those at pre-school returning from Monday 22 February.
Other age groups will continue to learn from home, apart from some secondary pupils who need to complete coursework.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said it was unlikely that any other pupils would return to school before 15 March at the earliest.
All other existing lockdown measures will all remain in place until at least the end of this month, with Ms Sturgeon warning that the country remains in a precarious position.
The EIS teaching union said it still had significant concerns over school safety which had not yet been addressed, and a blended learning model - with around half of pupils in classes at any one time - would have more appropriate.
The union's general secretary, Larry Flanagan, said: "Everyone is supportive of face-to-face teaching returning as soon as possible - that should not override safety concerns, however, and teachers will be understandably nervous around today's announcement."
The Scottish government will draw up a "revised strategic framework" - to be published next week - to set out how Scotland can exit lockdown and what conditions will need to be met before restrictions can be eased.
Ms Sturgeon said it was unlikely that hotels and holiday accommodation would be open again in time for people to book any sort of Easter break, but "staycations" may be possible by summer.
In an update at Holyrood, Ms Sturgeon said she had "more reason to be hopeful now than we did a few weeks ago" that the race against the virus could be won, with the vaccination programme picking up pace while lockdown contains the spread of new cases.
She said she was "very hopeful that vaccination will start to have a significant impact in reducing the number of people who die from Covid", saying there was already evidence of this in care homes.
However, the first minister warned that "our situation is still very fragile", saying: "Even a slight easing of restrictions could cause cases to start rising rapidly again".
While she said it would continue to be "extremely cautious", the government is focused on a "gradual, phased return to as much normality as possible".
This is to begin with schools, with the youngest pupils to return to classrooms as soon as next week.
But Ms Sturgeon said there would be trade-offs, adding: "We are choosing to use the very limited headroom we have right now to get at least some children back to school - because children's education and wellbeing is such a priority.
"But being able to get children back to education may mean the rest of us living with some other restrictions for longer."
Full article - Covid in Scotland: Youngest pupils to return to classrooms
The move will see all children in P1 to P3 and those at pre-school returning from Monday 22 February.
Other age groups will continue to learn from home, apart from some secondary pupils who need to complete coursework.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said it was unlikely that any other pupils would return to school before 15 March at the earliest.
All other existing lockdown measures will all remain in place until at least the end of this month, with Ms Sturgeon warning that the country remains in a precarious position.
The EIS teaching union said it still had significant concerns over school safety which had not yet been addressed, and a blended learning model - with around half of pupils in classes at any one time - would have more appropriate.
The union's general secretary, Larry Flanagan, said: "Everyone is supportive of face-to-face teaching returning as soon as possible - that should not override safety concerns, however, and teachers will be understandably nervous around today's announcement."
The Scottish government will draw up a "revised strategic framework" - to be published next week - to set out how Scotland can exit lockdown and what conditions will need to be met before restrictions can be eased.
Ms Sturgeon said it was unlikely that hotels and holiday accommodation would be open again in time for people to book any sort of Easter break, but "staycations" may be possible by summer.
In an update at Holyrood, Ms Sturgeon said she had "more reason to be hopeful now than we did a few weeks ago" that the race against the virus could be won, with the vaccination programme picking up pace while lockdown contains the spread of new cases.
She said she was "very hopeful that vaccination will start to have a significant impact in reducing the number of people who die from Covid", saying there was already evidence of this in care homes.
However, the first minister warned that "our situation is still very fragile", saying: "Even a slight easing of restrictions could cause cases to start rising rapidly again".
While she said it would continue to be "extremely cautious", the government is focused on a "gradual, phased return to as much normality as possible".
This is to begin with schools, with the youngest pupils to return to classrooms as soon as next week.
But Ms Sturgeon said there would be trade-offs, adding: "We are choosing to use the very limited headroom we have right now to get at least some children back to school - because children's education and wellbeing is such a priority.
"But being able to get children back to education may mean the rest of us living with some other restrictions for longer."
Full article - Covid in Scotland: Youngest pupils to return to classrooms
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