Donald Trump’s administration has announced its plan to cut its staff by almost half at the Department of Education. This decision follows with Trump’s plan to dismantle the department.

“As part of the Department of Education’s final mission, the Department today initiated a reduction in force impacting nearly 50 per cent of the Department’s workforce,” said a statement mentioned by News agency AFP.

AFP quoted Education Secretary Linda McMahon as saying that the decision to chop her staff — just five days after she started work — was a step toward fulfilling Trump’s order last month that she “put herself out of a job.” “His directive to me, clearly, is to shut down the Department of Education, which we know we’ll have to work with Congress, you know, to get that accomplished. But what we did today was to take the first step of eliminating what I think is bureaucratic bloat,” said McMahon, the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment.

The department said that affected staff will be placed on administrative leave on March 21 and will receive full pay until June 9.

The department had around 4,100 employees when Trump took office. Almost 600 agreed to resign or retire over the last few weeks as part of a government-wide plan to reduce headcount, overseen by billionaire businessman Elon Musk. A further 1,300 will be placed on administrative leave on March 21, although they will continue to be paid until June, a statement said, adding that no area would be spared the cuts.