Schoolchildren could be taught in merged classes if the number of teachers off sick skyrockets this week, the Education Secretary has said.
Nadhim Zahawi insisted face-to-face teaching will remain “the norm” when schools reopen on Tuesday.
Some classes may be taught in larger groups where teacher absences are high, however, and civil servants have a back-up plan for some online learning where there are major staff shortages.
It comes as England and Wales reported 137,583 new Covid cases on Sunday, with the new Omicron variant driving record high rates.
Mr Zahawi told Sky News: "The priority is to keep schools open.
"The testing, the staffing support we're putting in place, and of course the ventilation is going to make a big difference to schools this year.
"The most important thing is to keep them open.
"We monitor staff absenteeism, I just said to you we're running at about 8% last year. If that rises further then we look at things like merging classes, teaching in bigger numbers."
The Government last week issued guidance for pupils to wear face masks in schools.
Mr Zahawi said he hoped the advice would not be in place “for a day longer than we need it”.
He told Times Radio: “It really is based on a couple of things.
“One, obviously UK Health and Security Agency recommendation, Omicron being far more infectious, and when you look at the epidemiological data from SPI-M on this, and we’ve done a piece of work in the department at the end of last year, with 123 schools, where we’ve done an observational study where they’ve adhered to mask wearing in classrooms.
“It’s one of a number of, I think, really important mitigations to make sure that education is fully open and children are in school, in class.
“What we’re saying is, look, with Omicron, because it’s so infectious, we want to make sure that we give you as many tools to be able to make sure that education is open.”
But he admitted it was “more challenging, of course, to deliver education with masks on in the classroom”.
He said: “This is an aerosol-transmitted virus and if you’re wearing a mask, if you’re asymptomatic, then you’re less likely to infect other people.”
Other measures in place to curb the spread of the virus and keep schools open include on-site testing at schools, while 12 to 15-year-olds are encouraged to get fully vaccinated with two jabs and 16 and 17-year-old are made eligible for a booster dose.
Asked whether the jabs rollout programme had enough capacity to deal with extra vaccinations, Mr Zahwai said the NHS was used to dealing with staff being off over the winter and during “big flu viruses”.
He told BBC Breakfast: “The NHS is very good at being able to move staff around within the system. They have an infrastructure to do that. We now have 10,000 more nurses and 3,000 more doctors than we had last year working in the NHS.
“But the NHS is very good at sort of making sure that staff shortages are monitored and dealt with pretty well. They’ve done it over many years in winter when we’ve been, you know, have big flu viruses around.”
