Reuters —
Italy is preparing to ban face coverings in schools and cap the number of foreign students per class, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Sunday, flaunting his right-wing credentials at a party-sponsored youth event.
Due to Italy’s location in the central Mediterranean, it is one of the European countries most exposed to the influx of migrants, and migration has been a hot topic and a major challenge for successive governments.
The integration of immigrants, especially those from Muslim-majority countries, remains a debate in Italian politics and society. Debate over religious symbols, cultural integration, citizenship rules, and immigration policy often polarize public opinion.
“A bill will soon be submitted to the Cabinet that will legally establish a maximum number of foreign students per class, will require parents of foreign students who face serious difficulties in integrating into the school system to learn Italian, and will ban the burqa and niqab in schools,” Meloni said at the annual meeting of the Italian Brotherhood’s youth wing.
“If there is only one child in the class who does not understand Italian, he will probably learn it with the help of his classmates and teacher and will integrate quickly. But when the number of children who do not understand the language becomes large, even the majority, it is no longer integration, but neglect,” she added.
Meloni did not specify the maximum number of international students per class.
According to research institute Fondazione ISMU, non-Italian nationals account for 11.6% of students enrolled in Italian schools (almost 12 out of every 100 students).
“You have to go to school without hiding your face. In Italy, no one can decide, in the name of real or presumed tradition, that young women have to hide their faces,” Meloni said.
