Boris Johnson has refused to give a date when schools will reopen despite mounting pressure from parents, campaigners and his own party to help the “forgotten victims” of the pandemic.
The Prime Minister said he was still “looking at the data” to work out when classroom restrictions might be able to ease.
On a visit to a vaccine centre in north London, he revealed the Government will be “looking at the potential of relaxing some measures” before February 15. And he said: "We'll be deciding before then whether we can be getting schools back."
But he could not give a guarantee schools would be back before Easter.
The Prime Minister is under mounting pressure to give children and parents certainty over when schools can reopen.
Tory rebels are urging the Prime Minister to outline a plan for reopening as one, Education Committee chairman Robert Halfon, demands an urgent debate in Parliament.
Only vulnerable or key workers’ children are at school in person, with the rest learning from home.
The government was last week still almost 500,000 laptops short of its pledge to provide 1.3million devices in England.
Former party Chief Whip Mark Harper, chairman of the Covid Recovery Group of lockdown-sceptic Conservative MPs, said lockdown measures should be eased two or three weeks after the four priority groups have been vaccinated next month.
“At that point you need to start bringing the economy back to life, and the first thing that needs to be reopened are our schools so our children can get back, mix with their friends, and enable their education and their social development to take place, he told the BBC.
"What we are asking for now is the Government to set out that plan and bring some clarity.”
Children's Commissioner for England Anne Longfield demanded "hope and clarity".
She said schools should reopen "as soon as possible" – and called on ministers to set out at Downing Street press conferences what progress is being made towards reopening.
Ms Longfield warned that the closure of schools has had an "enormous impact" on children - affecting their mental health and widening the gap in learning.
"Children are more withdrawn, they are really suffering in terms of isolation, their confidence levels are falling, and for some there are serious issues,” she said.
"This is something for which families around the country will need hope and clarity about what comes next, and that of course is what the speculation we're hearing really feeds into - that confusion - but also worry about where they as a family go from here.”
Former cabinet minister Esther McVey told The Daily Telegraph: "Millions of them are missing out on an education, not developing socially with their friends and aren't allowed to enrich their lives by playing sports and music any more.
"They are the pandemic's forgotten victims and we've got to start thinking about their prospects and futures as well."
Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited a vaccination site at Barnet Football Club in north London on Monday morning.
Asked if he could give a firm date for schools reopening, Mr Johnson said: “Daily we’re looking at the data and trying to work out when we’re going to be able to lift restrictions.
“Schools obviously will be a priority but I don’t think anybody would want to see the restrictions lifted so quickly while the rate of infection is still very high so as to lead to another great spread of infection.
“We’ve now got the R down below 1 across the whole of the country, that’s a great achievement, we don’t want to see a huge surge of infection just when we’ve got the vaccination programme going so well and people working so hard.
“I understand why people want to get a timetable from me today, what I can tell you is we’ll tell you, tell parents, tell teachers as much as we can as soon as we can.”
The Prime Minister added the Government will be “looking at the potential of relaxing some measures” before mid-February.
He went on: “I do think now this massive achievement has been made of rolling out this vaccination programme, I think people want to see us making sure we don’t throw that away by having a premature relaxation and then another big surge of infection.
“I totally understand the frustrations of parents, I really thank teachers for what they’re doing, the immense efforts they’re going to to teach kids online, and the Government has provided a lot of laptops… I know that’s no substitute for direct face-to-face learning.
“Believe me there’s nothing I want to do more than reopen schools, I’ve fought to keep schools open for as long as I possibly could.
“We want to see schools back as fast as possible, we want to do that in a way that is consistent with fighting the epidemic and keeping the infection rate down.”
Tory ministers have previously insisted schools are safe in themselves - but admit they are a vector for spreading Covid-19 in the wider community.
The Office for National Statistics today said Covid-19 death rates for teachers and educational professionals were not statistically significantly raised compared with rates for the wider working population.
The rate for male teachers and educational professionals in England and Wales in 2020 was 18.4 deaths per 100,000, compared with 31.4 for all males aged 20 to 64; while for women it was 9.8 compared with 16.8.
For individual teaching occupations, the ONS said it was only possible to calculate a reliable rate for secondary education teaching professionals, with 39.2 deaths per 100,000 males and 21.2 per 100,000 females.
The ONS said these were “not statistically significantly different than those of the same age and sex in the wider population”.
Shadow Education Secretary Kate Green said there should be "Nightingale schools" to get children back into classrooms and testing must work better.
"Schools need to have time to plan," she said. The government has said it will give schools in England two weeks' notice before reopening.