Online learning will start on Wednesday, although schools will physically open for families who are unable to keep their children at home during the day.

VCE exams will be postponed to December and universities will start later in 2021.

"If you can learn from home you must learn from home," Premier Daniel Andrews said in a press conference on Tuesday morning.

"School is going to look very different in term two.

"For instance, there will be some digital issues for some students, despite the work that we've done. There will be students whose parents are doing incredibly important work for all of us, whether it's somebody working the checkout at Coles or stacking shelves.

"Whether it's somebody who is working the checkout at Coles or stacking shelves at Woolworths, a nurse, a member of Victoria Police, the list goes on.

"They're all doing incredibly important work. And then there are lots of other jobs that are being done right across the Victorian economy, and that may mean that it's impossible for kids to be unsupervised and to stay at home. School will be open for them."

Mr Andrews said he was confident Victoria could get students through the VCE by the end of the study year.

Watch the press conference here.

"Our aim is to have that assessment and it may very different to the normal exam process, concluded before the end of this calendar year. Do we have a plan B? Of course we do.

"That would involve the assessment component, so study right up until the end of the year and some potential assessments in the early part of 2021."

Education Minister James Merlino said every child needed an iPad or a laptop to learn from home would get one.

As for those in their final year of secondary school, they might have to hit the books for longer in order to matriculate.

"It may be a longer year, to make up some lost time," Mr Andrews said.

"We are not about 'year 13' or people repeating, we think we can get this done. The rest of year 12 is going to be different."

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