Schools in Scotland began the new term with hundreds of unfilled teacher vacancies, figures have revealed.

A total of 729 teaching posts were vacant across primary and secondary schools, with rural areas in particular struggling to fill posts in subjects such as English, maths and science.

The figures, obtained by the Scottish Liberal Democrats under freedom of information legislation, show that there were 388 empty primary teacher posts, while there were 341 vacancies in secondary schools.

Argyll and Bute Council had the largest number of vacant teaching posts on August 9, the week before classes started, with 139 full-time equivalent primary school positions unfilled and a further 61 secondary school teachers needing to be recruited.

This was followed by Aberdeen which had 86 vacant posts and the Borders which had 47.

Tavish Scott MSP, the Liberal Democrats' education spokesman, said teachers would be "dangerously overstretched" unless action was taken to address the shortages.

His party has called for a penny increase in income tax in order to raise money for education spending.

He said: "As the school year started schools across Scotland have been desperately trying to find qualified permanent staff. Thousands of pupils faced the prospect of going back to school without a dedicated class teacher in place.

"This can only increase pressure on other teachers and make life more difficult for those pupils who need the most support. More than 4,000 teachers have been lost on the SNP's watch.

"The SNP came to power on a promise to cut class sizes but they have gone up. If we are going to turn this around we need to get more teachers into classrooms.

"Local authorities are being forced to cut back on education as a result of the SNP's £500 million cuts to council budgets last year."

A recent financial analysis by the Fraser of Allander Institute revealed that the SNP's spending plans will leave councils facing a £1 billion hit.

The Lib Dems believe this will have "severe" consequences for Scottish schools - the largest part of councils' budgets.

Mr Scott added: "It is hard to see how this situation will improve unless the Scottish Government gets serious about funding education and give councils the support they need to invest in schools."

A spokesman for Cosla, the body that represents most of Scotland’s councils, said there was “a particular problem in rural areas that needs addressed”.

The Scottish Government said it is taking action to help councils recruit and retain teachers.

A government spokeswoman said: "We want all schools to have access to the right number of teachers with the right skills so every child in every community has the opportunity to fulfil their potential.

"While it is ultimately the responsibility of individual local authorities, the Scottish Government is taking a number of actions to help recruit and retain teachers.

"We are spending £88 million this year to make sure every school has access to the right number of teachers. Where there is an issue, this tends to be in specific areas where local factors, such as house prices, can be an important part of the problem.

"Teacher vacancies arise across Scottish local authorities continuously throughout the year. These figures represent less than 1.5% of the total workforce and in the time since they were compiled many of these vacancies will have been filled."