The Department of Education said Wednesday that 1,114 schools have been “nominated” to take part in its dry run of face-to-face classes next year but the number of actual participating schools would be lower.

The department’s regional directors made the recommendation on schools that could possibly participate in the pilot testing. Education Secretary Leonor Briones said.

She also said,
“So far, ang ni-report ng ating regional directors last week ay 1,114 schools ang na-nominate out of 61,000 schools.”

Briones also revealed that 3 regions have “begged off” from participating in the dry run, including the National Capital Region (NCR), the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

DepEd NCR Director Malcolm Garma said his office did not nominate a school since Metro Manila remains under general community quarantine (GCQ) until the end of the year.

Garma added, only schools under modified GCQ or considered low risk of COVID-19 transmission are allowed to participate in the dry run.

Briones stated also that there was a “big demand” for face-to-face or in-person instruction in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) and Eastern Visayas.

“The other regions, nagva-vary (The demand in other regions vary),” she said.