Harare, 25 Feb-(ANA)-Teachers in Zimbabwe have agreed to end their strike after the government promised to review salaries, and to appeal for substantial aid for schools.
The teachers had been demanding their salaries in foreign currency to get around Zimbabwe's massive inflation.
But they said the new Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai had been willing to listen to their grievances.
New Education Minister David Coltart said he had asked for more than $450m (£310m) in overseas aid for schools.
"My single-minded goal is to get the schools reopened and teachers back at work," Mr Coltard told the London-based Short Wave Africa independent radio station.
He said the package offered to teachers included an amnesty for any who feared reprisals or dismissal for not having gone to work.
"I am very sympathetic to the fact that many of the teachers who didn't report for duty simply couldn't, because they didn't even have enough money for the bus fare," he said.
Tendai Chikoore, president of the Zimbabwe Teachers' Association, told AFP news agency members of the union had "agreed to go back to work solely on the good will shown by the government".
But he said the union was still demanding that teachers' salaries must match those of other teachers in the region, a view echoed by the president of the Progressive Teachers' Union, Takavafira Zhou.
"We also agreed that after three months, teachers' salaries must be reviewed to meet regional standards of 15,000 South African rand[$1,500; £1,035] a month," said Mr Zhou. (ANA)
UK/Coffee