Italy's PM Meloni announces plans to ban veils in schools and cap foreign students per class, tightening integration policy ahead of elections.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced plans to ban face coverings in Italian schools and legally cap the number of foreign students per class, saying on Sunday that parents of struggling foreign students must learn Italian. The measures signal a hardline stance on immigration and cultural integration ahead of rising right-wing political competition.
- ▪Meloni said a Cabinet measure will soon establish a maximum number of foreign students per classroom and require parents of non-Italian students with integration difficulties to learn Italian.
- ▪The proposed ban covers burqas and niqabs in schools. Meloni argued that students must attend school with their faces uncovered and that no tradition can justify young women hiding themselves.
- ▪Italy currently limits foreign students to 30% of a class enrollment under a 2010 law; Meloni did not specify how the new cap would differ from existing restrictions.
- ▪Foreign students make up 11.6% of Italy’s total school enrollment, or roughly 12 in every 100 students, according to research institution Fondazione ISMU.
- ▪Meloni framed the policy as preventing ‘neglect’ rather than genuine integration, arguing that when too many non-Italian-speaking children concentrate in one class, language acquisition and social integration collapse.
- ▪Italy has no explicit national burqa ban, though a 1975 law prohibits full-face coverings that obstruct identification without justified reason; a 2008 court ruling allowed full-face veils for religious reasons if faces are shown for ID verification.
- ▪The far-right National Future party, polling higher than Meloni’s coalition and not part of her government, called for a school veil crackdown in July; Meloni’s announcement appears partly motivated by that right-wing pressure.
- ▪Migration remains a contentious political issue in Italy due to its central Mediterranean location, making it among Europe’s main arrival points for migrants seeking entry to the continent.
Source: according to media reports
COMMENTS