Pupils across Scotland could see their summer holidays cut short to make up for lost teaching time.
John Swinney, education secretary, told The Times that the Scottish Government was considering the move, which would see school children return before August.
The deputy first minister has previously said parents should expect schools to remain closed until at least the summer after other countries in Europe started to ease coronavirus restrictions.
Yesterday, Nicola Sturgeon said social distancing in classrooms and pupils returning week on week off were also being considered.
John Swinney said: "We need to look at every option that enables us to navigate our way through this.
"We do not yet know what the autumn and winter will be like with Covid. There may well be an argument for saying that there might be a need to get schools in earlier than when they would generally normally resume in August because of that and because young people have missed out on formal schooling.
"These are subjects that we are exploring with our partners to establish what is the most appropriate steps forward."
Mr Swinney said schools were doing an "outstanding job" at preparing lessons for pupils and also praised parents for stepping up.
He added: "Schools will make their judgement about what the best way to interact with their pupils. I have seen a number of examples where pupils are interacting with teachers one to one."
Speaking at her daily briefing today, Nicola Sturgeon said schools going back early was under consideration, and that more information would be released later this week.
Yesterday Nicola Sturgeon said social distancing in schools was also being considered as one way of getting children back to their classrooms, but she added: "As we come out of these very strict measures we are not going to be going back to normality as we knew it."
