More than 3,500 schools in England and Wales will be closed and some 2,600 partially closed on Thursday when two teaching unions stage strike action.
Education Secretary Michael Gove, who announced the figures, said the strike action, over pension changes, was regrettable, unnecessary and premature.
He was responding to an urgent Commons question by his shadow, Andy Burnham.
Action is being taken by members of the National Union of Teachers and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers.
They say the changes will mean they will have to work longer, pay more and get less when they retire.
Mr Gove told the Commons the strike would cause "massive inconvenience to hard-working families" and would hit working women particularly hard.
"This strike, at this time will not help our schools," he said.
He said his department had established that 3,206 schools would be closed and 2,206 would be partially closed on Thursday.
In total 84 academies would be shut and 128 partially closed.
Continue reading - BBC - More than 5,000 schools face teacher strike action
Strikes among public sector workers begin
Some civil servants have begun industrial action as part of a strike involving hundreds of thousands in protest at changes to their pensions.
Some UK Border Agency staff began strike action at 1800 BST.
About 600,000 teachers and civil servants are striking on Thursday over planned pension changes they say will mean working longer and paying more.
Prime Minister David Cameron told MPs it was unfair of the strikers to cause problems for everyone.
He said government plans were "fair to taxpayers" and the public sector.
Four trade unions are taking part in strike action on Thursday.
Three are teaching unions - the National Union of Teachers (NUT), the Association of Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) and the University and College Union (UCU).
They will be joined by the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) which has around 250,000 members.
The government believes one in five of the nation's 500,000 civil servants will take strike action.
Continue reading - BBC - Strikes among public sector workers begin
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