Pupils will no longer need to wear masks in secondary schools and colleges from next week - despite pleas by teaching unions.
Face coverings have been recommended in classrooms since lessons resumed in March.
But Boris Johnson said on Monday that, from May 17, masks will no longer be mandatory.
The Prime Minister confirmed the step as part of a wider Downing Street press conference on the next stage of the lockdown roadmap.
Ministers have said that the decision is expected to "hugely improve" interactions between teachers and students.
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But some teaching unions have previously criticised the move, saying Covid-19 infections remain in schools and not everyone has had a vaccine.
Jon Richards, head of education at Unison, which represents school support staff, told the PA news agency last week: "It would be unwise to abandon a sensible and successful approach on masks this soon.
"The Government should hold off until next month.
"New concerns over Covid variants and some increase in school infections show more caution is needed.
"It's better to be safe than sorry and put staff, pupils and the community at risk."
Five unions representing teachers and support staff - as well as scientists, public health experts and parents - also previously wrote to Education Secretary Gavin Williamson to urge him to keep masks in place until at least June 21.
Professor Martin McKee, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who is among the signatories to the letter, warned that removing the requirement from May 17 could lead to more young people getting ill during the summer assessment period in secondary schools and colleges.
He said: "Not all adults have been vaccinated and many school teachers are relatively young as well. And we haven't even started vaccinating adolescents yet."
Prof McKee, who is also a member of Independent Sage, said: "We know that face coverings do reduce transmission. So they are an important part of our armamentarium in response to Covid.
"The second point is that although cases are going down overall in the country, they are not going down everywhere and we've just had an outbreak of 100 cases in Derbyshire in a school.
"So we have been here before last summer when cases were very low and then they came back again. So there's no room for complacency."
He added: "As we're coming up to the assessment season, do we really want children being very ill at that time?"
Despite the health fears, MPs and parents have raised concerns about face masks in class disrupting pupils' learning and wellbeing since they were introduced in March.
Mr Johnson also confirmed on Monday that university students return to in-person teaching and learning from May 17, with twice-a-week testing.
But this is despite the fact students’ academic years will be over or nearly over by then, with terms usually running from September to early June.
