Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has demanded the resignation of Education and Science Minister Todor Tanev and his entire team.

"I believe that another person must hold the portfolio due to recurring problems at the ministry and the sector,” Borisov said in a statement released by the government’s press office on Thursday.

“For me, as Prime Minister, it is unacceptable to make changes in the area of education which haven’t been put to broad public discussion,” Borosov said, referring to plans to introduce controversial changes to the elementary and high school curriculum.

Borisov said that he had asked the Reformist Bloc, the junior partner in his minority coalition government, “to nominate by the end of the day a new team to run the ministry who will continue the reform process.”   

Tensions have heightened since the Education Ministry proposed controversial changes to literature books last week. Some of those changes affect pieces of Bulgarian literature considered to be key to keeping alive the national conscience and identity of the Bulgarian population during the period of Ottoman rule (1396-1878).