About 91 per cent of secondary school teachers throughout Bulgaria have joined the ongoing strike on October 25, sources from the Unified National Education Strike Commission were quoted by Dnevnik business daily as saying.

The day before, commission representatives alongside officials from the education and finance ministries agreed on a 20 per cent year-on-year increase in average gross salary for secondary school teachers as of November 1. In addition, a beginning teacher will be entitled to 450 leva in remuneration as of January 1 next year.

On October 25, parties to the talks have been negotiating on the parameters of salaries, which according to the strike demands should reach 650 leva as of July 1 next year.

Sources from the commission called on Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev and the leaders from the tripartite coalition to join negotiations on the matter.

About 12 000 teachers have announced plans to leave the education system because of low pay and the enduring stalemate of the conflict, the Commission said. It added that a final agreement would be signed once all striking teachers mandated the commission to negotiate on their behalf.