Pupils and teachers are expected to return to their classes today after a three-week long strike.

And that will be the last holiday they have before December as all affected schools will be operating through the September 23 to October 4 break to make up for lost time. The strike, marred by violence and intimidation, led to the postponement of matric preliminary exams in eight provinces.

Reporting to SA Democratic Teachers' Union members at Elkah stadium in Soweto yesterday, Sadtu Gauteng central regional secretary Ronald Nyathi said the recovery programme would scrap the "no work, no pay" policy implemented by the education department at the start of the strike.

"They can't deduct money for 'no work, no pay' if we still have to recover the time lost as we will be making up for the time we were on the streets," he said.

Nyathi said union members were "ready and willing" to teach during the holidays.

However, Granville Whittle, spokesman for the Department of Basic Education, said the department would still dock teachers' salaries.

"Part of the agreement is that deductions would be staggered for teachers and would depend on how much a teacher earns," he said.

This means that with the current wage offer, a teacher with a matric and four years of university education would earn about R230000 a year. Striking teachers have lost about R913 a day, which was "too much to deduct at once".

Ezrah Ramasehla, president of teachers' union Naptosa, said in a statement that the union acknowledged that the government's offer could not be improved given the "present financial circumstances".

He said certain aspects of the offer had been overlooked.

"One of these . is that the employer has committed itself to implement a home ownership scheme with effect from 1 April 2011. Although the details of this scheme have not yet been announced, its objective is to enable employees to purchase a home of their own," Ramasehla said.

The union said although it prioritised matrics, pupils in grades R to 11 will also be part of the post-strike recovery plan.

High school teacher Willie Twele said he was happy to go back to work, but was disappointed that not all of the teachers' demands had been met.

"I will still have to spread my meagre salary across a lot of things, but that 7.5% is at least something of a relief," he said.

Twele said he did not have a lot of catching up to do as his pupils had completed the curriculum before the strike.

"We had extra classes before the strike, so the catch-up process will be mere revision . all work will be covered in time for the finals."

Matrics have 47 days left in which to prepare from their final exams next month.

The department said it would discuss the issue of teachers being paid for working during the school holidays with the unions.