Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said face-covering clothing such as the burqa and niqab would be banned in schools.
The proposal to cap the proportion of students without Italian nationality in each class has expanded into a debate over migrant integration and access to education.
The key point is that neither policy represents a finalized implementation outcome; rather, they are plans the government has announced it will pursue through legislation.
3-Line Summary
1. Prime Minister Meloni has pushed for tighter school regulations
2. A maximum class-level cap of 30% has been discussed
3. The announcement and actual implementation should be considered separately
Ban on Face Coverings in Schools: The Government’s Legislative Proposal
Prime Minister Meloni said at a youth event held by her party, Brothers of Italy, that she would pursue a law banning the wearing of burqas and niqabs in schools. The burqa and niqab are Islamic garments that cover most or all of the face, and the proposal is based on the principle that faces must be visible in schools.
According to reports by the German daily newspapers WELT and BILD, Prime Minister Meloni argued that young women should not be able to decide to cover themselves on the grounds of tradition. However, the reports presented do not confirm that garments covering the hair, such as the hijab, would also be banned. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reported that wearing the hijab is permitted in Italian educational institutions.
This issue concerns not only school rules but also the intersection of religious expression and students’ right to education. Therefore, the prime minister’s remarks alone do not mean that a ban has already been implemented in every school.
Discussion of Language-Support Eligibility, Not a “30% Foreign Student” Rule
Prime Minister Meloni also announced a policy to limit the number of foreign-national students per class. The cap mentioned in the FAZ report is up to 30% across individual classes and the school as a whole. The Italian Ministry of Education recommended a similar restriction in 2010, and the government is reportedly considering establishing it by law.
However, interpreting this figure as applying equally to all foreign-national students would differ from the report’s explanation. FAZ reported that the regulation would target students classified as “NAI”—newly arrived students whose Italian-language skills are insufficient—rather than students born in Italy who speak Italian. It added that students from European Union member states cannot be classified as foreigners under EU law.
Meloni argued that integration becomes difficult when many students who do not understand the language are concentrated in one class. She also proposed requiring the parents of students facing major difficulties with integration to learn Italian.
Can an Existing Recommendation Be Turned into Law?
According to FAZ, of approximately 800 million students in Italy, more than 93 1 thousand students do not have Italian nationality, representing 11.6%. About two-thirds of these students were born in Italy but have not yet obtained citizenship. This is why it is difficult to immediately determine the need for language support in schools based on numbers alone.
Educators and school principals pointed out that sending students who exceed the cap to other schools would be difficult in practice. Students might have to travel to schools far from their homes, and students are already concentrated in schools in certain areas. An elementary school in Mestre near Venice and some schools in Monfalcone near Trieste were cited as examples in the debate because of their high proportions of students of foreign origin.
The point to watch in this announcement is not the nationality ratio itself, but how newly arrived students with insufficient language skills will be classified and supported under what criteria. It has not yet been decided what form the government’s proposal will take after cabinet discussions and the legislative process.
References
Tags #ItalianSchools #GiorgiaMeloni #PrimeMinisterMeloni #BurqaBan #NiqabBan #SchoolDressCode #ItalianEducation #MigrantIntegration #ForeignStudents #ClassSize #ItalianLanguageEducation #NAI #BrothersOfItaly