Gavin Williamson has said the government wants to scrap school “bubbles” as part of England’s next step out of lockdown.
The measure – which sees pupils and teachers kept in groups to keep mixing to a minimum – has been in place to limit the spread of coronavirus.
But the education secretary said on Wednesday that the government is looking to get rid of it within weeks.
Mr Williamson told parliament he wants to see remaining restrictions in schools, including bubbles, “removed as quickly as possible”.
“We constantly assess all available data and we expect to be able to confirm plans to be able to lift restrictions and bubbles as part of Step 4,” he said.
“Once that decision has been made, we will issue guidance immediately to schools.”
Step 4 of England’s roadmap out of lockdown, when the government hopes to be able to remove all legal limits on social contact, is currently planned for no earlier than 19 July.
Concerns have been raised in recent weeks about the interpretation of rules which have resulted in large groups of pupils being sent home for 10 days if another pupil in their bubble tests positive for Covid.
Earlier this week, government data showed school absences linked to Covid had peaked at their highest rate since March.
More than 330,000 students were self-isolating due to potential contact with a Covid case last week and tens of thousands more were out of school with a suspected or confirmed coronavirus infection.
Reports this week suggested pupils may be able to avoid automatically self-isolating after coming in contact with a Covid case under rules which could be introduced after the summer holidays.
Trials are currently ongoing into the use of daily contact testing in schools as an alternative to self-isolation after the measure was paused earlier this year following advice from Public Health England.
“Further steps will be taken to reduce the number of children who have the self-isolate, including looking at the outcomes of the daily contact testing trial,” Mr Williamson said on Wednesday.
