
Italy is preparing to ban face coverings in schools and limit the number of foreign students in each class, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Sunday, as she emphasized her right-wing stance at a youth event organized by her party.
Italy is among the European countries most exposed to the arrival of migrants due to its position in the Central Mediterranean. For this reason, migration is a sensitive issue and a significant challenge for successive governments.
The integration of migrants, especially those from Muslim-majority countries, remains a contentious issue in Italian politics and society. Debates over religious symbols, cultural integration, citizenship rules, and immigration policies often polarize public opinion.
" A measure will soon be presented to the Council of Ministers to legally define a maximum number of foreign students per class. It also provides for parents of foreign students who face serious difficulties in integrating into the school system to learn Italian, and bans burqas and niqabs in schools ," Meloni said during the annual meeting of the youth forum of her party, the Brothers of Italy.
“ If there is only one child in a class who does not understand Italian, that child is likely to learn the language and integrate quickly with the help of classmates and teachers. However, if the number of children who do not understand the language becomes large, or even the majority, then this is no longer integration, but neglect ,” she added.
Meloni did not specify what the maximum number of foreign students in a class would be.
Students who are not Italian citizens make up 11.6% of all students enrolled in Italian schools, or about 12 in every 100 students, according to the ISMU Foundation, a research institution.
" You have to go to school with your face uncovered and in Italy no one, in the name of a real or supposed tradition , can decide that a young girl should be covered," Meloni said.