Tory MPs are asking the government to set out a "route map" for the reopening of schools in England, amid growing concerns about the impact of closures on children's education.
The chairman of the education select committee, Robert Halfon, has asked for a plan to be laid out in the Commons.
The government has said it is "too soon" to say when schools will reopen to all pupils.
But it will not be until after the February half-term at the earliest.
Mr Halfon, Conservative MP for for Harlow, tweeted that he had asked to table an urgent question in on the matter.
If the request is granted, an education minister will need to respond to his queries.
Mr Halfon told BBC Breakfast there was "enormous uncertainty", with newspaper reports that schools would not reopen before Easter. He called for the government to set out "what the conditions need to be" for pupils to return to schools.
"The government should come to parliament and explain to the public, to teachers, support staff, parents, who are incredibly worried," he said. "There are enormous pressures on parents at the moment, some of them are giving up their jobs or working part time, they are losing income because they have to stay at home to look after their children, they need to know what is going on."
Mr Halfon suggested the government could consider tighter restrictions in other parts of society and the economy, in order to enable schools to open.
Schools in England have been closed to all but vulnerable pupils and the children of key workers since the national lockdown began on 5 January.
Pupils have been told they will be learning at home until at least half-term in mid-February.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has said schools will be given two weeks' notice before reopening - which he would "certainly hope" would happen before Easter.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock echoed his comments in an interview with the BBC's Andrew Marr on Sunday, saying: "I hope that schools go back after Easter, of course I do."
However, he added that while the vaccine rollout was "going fast... we've got to make sure that we get the cases down and we've got to protect the country from new variants coming in from abroad".
Ministers are desperate to avoid easing restrictions, only to have to re-impose them - and are managing expectations around the timescale of loosening the lockdown.
The chairman of the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady, told me: "Obviously schools should be back. If necessary offer all teachers the vaccine. Certainly once the most vulnerable are vaccinated, there has to be a roadmap and school children should be first."
But one senior figure having regular conversations with the Department for Education told me there was an "unwritten acknowledgement" that schools returning fully after the February half-term had been "written off".
Discussions continue about prioritising some year groups returning once this is deemed safe, but even that feels some way off.
Wales' first minister said on Friday that the "wholesale" return of pupils to school after February half-term was "unlikely".
Mr Hancock also said the UK had identified 77 cases of the coronavirus variant first detected in South Africa - all linked to travellers arriving in the UK, rather than community transmission.
Scientists have said there is a chance the variant may harm the effectiveness of current vaccines.
Ministers will meet this week to consider imposing tougher restrictions on people arriving from abroad, including the possibility of quarantining travellers in hotels.
In Scotland, a plan to deliver vaccination appointments to people aged 70-79 in blue envelopes - so that they stand out in the post - has been delayed.
In total, 6,353,321 people in the UK have had an initial injection, according to the government's coronavirus dashboard.
A further 610 deaths within 28 days of a positive test were reported in the UK on Sunday - down from 671 deaths last Sunday.
The number of new positive cases fell for the fourth day in a row to 30,004 on Sunday - the lowest figure since before Christmas.
The death figures tend to be lower on a Sunday and Monday because of weekend lags in reporting of the data.
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https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiJmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jby51ay9uZXdzL3VrLTU1NzkxOTE00gEqaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmJjLmNvLnVrL25ld3MvYW1wL3VrLTU1NzkxOTE0?oc=5
2021-01-25 07:41:00Z
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