India, March 12 -- The US department of education is firing 1,315 employees, leaving it with just over half the total number of workers before President Donald Trump's took office.

The department had started sending termination notices from 6pm EST on Tuesday and this is in addition to the 63 probationary employees who were already fired earlier, Business Insider reported.

The layoff round eliminates full teams deemed redundant or unnecessary and will not impact key functions such as federal student aid, grants for special needs students, and civil rights investigations.

Out of the total 4,133 staff of the department, 259 accepted the deferred resignation offer, 313 accepted the $25,000 voluntary buyout, and around 2,183 will continue ...