Scotland's education chief claimed schools are "safe" for children and teachers this week as the country braces for lockdown after Christmas.
John Swinney defended the decision to send pupils back to class while a new strain of Covid-19 is surging through the UK.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced on Saturday night that Scotland would return to highest level of lockdown restrictions on Boxing Day.
Schools will not fully open until January 11 for most pupils while remote learning will be in place until January 18 at the earliest.
Teachers' unions had argued there should have been a longer break before Christmas.
Today Swinney said: "We have, compared to the rest of the UK, very significantly lower levels of coronavirus and our schools are safe.
"So young people and children should go to school this week."
Swinney said the break was not extended now for reasons set out by Children's Commissioner Bruce Adamson.
But Adamson had also claimed remote learning was patchy and blamed the government for failing to have national guidance and support.
Swinney told BBC Radio Scotland he took the "difficult decision" not to change the arrangements prior to the start of the Christmas break "for exactly the reason the Children's Commissioner has set out, that loss of schooling and interaction of that type is damaging for children and young people and that is the strongest public health advice we have got".
The Education Secretary said: "We want the schools to be back into face-to-face learning on January 18.
"Remote learning will start on January 11 for pupils, and for vulnerable pupils and for the children of key workers, they should go back to school when the schools are scheduled to reopen in their locality.
"I want to stick to January 18 and we will be reviewing the situation as we go into the new year, to monitor the cases, to look at the evidence in front of us and to take the right and appropriate decisions to make sure our schools are operating on a safe basis."
