The Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, has announced that she will present a measure in the next Council of Ministers that limits by law a maximum number of foreigners per classroom. The measure also includes other proposals, such as that parents of foreign students with serious school integration problems learn Italian, and prohibits the burqa and hijab in educational centers.
“You 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 hide. Equality between men and women is non-negotiable. It is not possible for Italian children in an Italian classroom to feel displaced for being a minority. It cannot happen,” he expressed during the meeting of the youth of his party.
Meloni explained that the objective of carrying out this law is that “if in a class there is only one child who does not understand Italian, he will probably be able to learn the language with his classmates and integrate quickly”, but “if the number of children who do not understand the language of the class increases, or even become the majority, that is no longer integration; it is abandonment.”
Criticism of general approvals and defense of financing for universities
Regarding education, the prime minister has denounced general approvals because “the aim is to give everyone a passing grade, merit is undermined and shortcomings are hidden, harming both those who need motivation and those who need support.”
In his opinion, “the school for all must be able to recognize both achievements and weaknesses, it must offer motivation to those who are ahead and support to those who have difficulties.” Therefore, the first thing the school has to do is “teach the child that judgment exists, that mistakes are useful for growth.”
He has also announced that the centers that offer vocational training will be called ‘institutes’ so that “it is clear from their names that they are schools of equal value and that the people who attend them have the same value” and has asserted that his Government has raised “ordinary financing for universities to its highest level in history and with a fund that amounts to 9.4 billion euros, which is 25% more than in 2019.”
