They feel the compromise has been unsatisfactory and reached prematurely ``because of government pressure''. It came suddenly after a massive agitation had been chalked out, they say, alleging they were coerced into the agreement by the government which showed its muscle power.

``We were threatened with stringent action, including service break for senior grades. This service break could hamper teachers' career later'', said D M Patel, principal of Diwan Ballabhai High School. Significantly, the main mediator was Gujarat University pro-vice chancellor K S Shastri.

The government also anxious to hammer out a compromise keeping in mind the possibility of the issue snowballing into a political tangle. Shankarsinh Vaghela had announced his fast starting today and made his sympathies with the striking teachers more than evident.

``There was likelihood of violence in such a situation and the government had warned the teachers that the responsibility would fall on their heads'', said a secondary school teacher.

The situation had become volatile with nearly one lakh teachers planning to gherao the State Assembly and take out a massive rally. The government, as a precautionary measure, prepared a draft, invoking the Essential Services Maintainence Act (ESMA).

The main players on both sides who brought about a compromise were Chief Minister Keshubahi Patel, Finance Minister Vajubhai Vala, Minister of State for Education Anandiben Patel, Minister of State for Home Haren Pandya, teachers association leader Naranbhai Patel and other office-bearers.

The main demand - the implementation of the Fifth Pay Commission recommendation - has been moved from the anomaly committee to a special committee of five members including two from the association. The committee has been asked to submit recommendations within three months, and the government has promised to implement them at the earliest. The second demand is security of surplus teachers. The government has agreed to extend the 1993 limit to all teachers appointed till this June 30. They have been promised protection. And the non-teaching staff issue was also sorted out nearly 95 per cent with an agreement that the junior most in the service would be declared `surplus' and not the senior most as was the practice.

``The areas of agreement and disagreement were chalked out with both points of views in mind. It was generally agreed that a committee had to be set up to look into the pay-scale issue in details. It could not be worked out in one day'', said a prominent academician present at the meeting which lasted for nearly 12 hours.

The reactions to the compromise have been mixed: ``From the students point of view it is good but for us it has been unsatisfactory. We are giving another chance to the government lest the society should accuse us of not doing so'', said Raghubir Nayak, principal of a leading school in the city. Though the association had promised to hold classes for X and XII students, they will now take extra classes to make up for the lost time.