The phased return of children to schools in Scotland will begin on 22 February as planned, first minister Nicola Sturgeon has told the Scottish Parliament.
But Ms Sturgeon said there will be no wider relaxation of coronavirus restrictions north of the border before the start of March.
And she said that exit from lockdown was likely to be “more cautious” than it was last summer.
The first minister told the Holyrood assembly that pre-school children, primary years 1-3 and “a limited number” of secondary pupils who need access to classrooms for practical work will return to school next Monday.
Later groups are unlikely to join them at school before 15 March, she said.
Ms Sturgeon said that Scotland’s vaccination programme “is already having an effect” in reducing deaths in Scottish care homes, which have fallen from 34 per cent of fatalities in December to 18 per cent now.
She said: “We are in a race between the virus and the vaccine and I think we do have much more reason to be hopeful now than we did just a few weeks ago that this is a race that we can and we will ultimately win if we are prepared to stick to it.”
Ms Sturgeon said that the data showed that “lockdown is working”, with daily new cases in Scotland falling from 2,300 in the first week of Janaury to 810 in the most recent figures.
But she warned that setting “arbitrary” dates for a return to normality would risk a new flare-up of disease and “another lockdown later this year”.
The Scottish govenrment would proceed with caution in order to allow “headroom” for the priority of reopening schools, she said.
And she added: “Getting children back to education may mean the rest of us living with some restrictions for longer.”
It will probably not be possible for Scottish people to have holidays away from home either in Scotland or overseas at Easter, though staycations may be possible in the summer, she said.
