Senator Sherwin Gatchalian expressed support for the exclusion of teaching and non-teaching personnel from proposals to rightsize the national government.

Gatchalian pointed out that the basic education sector already suffers from a teaching and non-teaching staff shortage. During the 2025 national budget deliberations, the Department of Education (DepEd) reported a nationwide shortfall of 56,050 teachers and 20,688 non-teaching personnel.

“Kung merong dapat i-exempt sa rightsizing, dapat ‘yung mga teaching and non-teaching personnel dahil alam naman natin na kulang ang bilang nila sa buong bansa (If there's anyone who should be exempt from rightsizing, it should be the teaching and non-teaching staff because we know that there is a shortage of them across the country),” said Gatchalian, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Basic Education.

The lawmaker reiterated, however, the need to streamline the teacher hiring process, as he noted that it can take up to six months and involves the Department of Budget and Management and the Civil Service Commission. Gatchalian also emphasized the need for more non-teaching staff to free teachers from administrative and ancillary tasks.

In its year one report, the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II) highlighted that public school teachers handle over 50 non-teaching and ancillary tasks, which affect their ability to focus on teaching. To address this, DepEd issued DepEd Order No. 02 series of 2024, mandating the immediate removal of non-teaching tasks from public school teachers.

Pending rightsizing proposals aim to promote government efficiency by reducing or eliminating redundancies, overlaps, and duplications in the national government’s operations. 

These measures seek to grant the President the authority to reorganize the Executive Branch, including merging, streamlining, or abolishing agencies with overlapping and duplicating functions.

The bills also proposed the creation of a committee on rightsizing the Executive Branch to implement the rightsizing program.