GMA prefers ‘lean but well-paid bureaucracy’

President Arroyo recently said she would ask the Department of Budget and Management to study the proposal to exempt non-teaching personnel of the Department of Education from the Rationalization Law.

But the President said outright that she prefers a “lean but well-paid bureaucracy” to a bloated government bureaucracy.

Mrs. Arroyo was reacting to the statement of Manila Schools Superintendent Lourdes Quinones that public schools were suffering from a shortage of janitors and clerks.

The problems hounding the country’s education system were brought up during the meeting of the President with Manila city schools and other education officials held at the cramped principal’s office of the Maceda Integrated School along Buenos Aires St. in Sta. Mesa, Manila.

Also present during the consultations were Education Secretary Jesli Lapus and Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim.

Only teachers, military men and policemen are exempted from the no-replacement rule of the Rationalization Law, which calls for the trimming down of the government bureaucracy.          

Mrs. Arroyo said with the ongoing government computerization program, teachers and other school officials would have less need for clerks. During the meeting, she suggested that the city school officials assign redundant employees to positions vacated by retiring employees, and to areas needing more personnel.     – Paolo Romero