"I regard it as necessary that the budget for education as a percentage of GDP increased, and I think it should be around five per cent," said Kircho Atanasov, Deputy Education Minister said on Bulgarian National Television's "Denyat Zapochva" (the day begins).

"Bulgarian teachers deserve to receive a better remuneration. But the discussion does not end with this question. The big theme is how do we increase the quality of education? This theme is two years old," Atanasov said.

He said, that with a clear understanding that the salaries had to be increased, government and the prime minster had given their proposal to the union. This proposal was to increase the teachers' salaries to 100 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GPD) per head of population. "The problem is that our GDP is low compared to other countries. Sometime, in absolute figures, 100 per cent of our GDP might be less than 80 per cent of the GPD of a richer country, that is the whole problem," Atanasov explained.

He said he trusted the government and the unions would find a common solution to the problem.