Sunday September 20, on the stage of the Fenix (Rome), Giorgia Meloni loses her temper in front of the young activists of her Fratelli d’Italia party: “It is not acceptable that, in an Italian classroom, Italian children come to feel marginalized because they have become a minority (…) Anyone who arrives in Italy to build their future must learn our language, know our culture and respect our rules. » The following Thursday, the Council of Ministers adopted a decree-law banning the full veil, requiring Italian lessons for parents and capping the number of foreign students per class.
From the 2027-2028 school year, wearing a full veil (burqa or niqab) at school will be punishable by a fine of 200 to 1,000 euros. In primary school, a ceiling of 30% will limit the proportion of foreign children born abroad or who have not completed two years of nursery school. In middle and high school, this restriction will apply to foreign students who have not completed three years of Italian schooling. At the same time, parents whose difficulties in Italian hinder their child’s school integration will have to take language courses free of charge. If they persistently refuse to comply, they could lose custody of their minor children.
A claim from Salvini
In view of the legislative elections of 2027, Meloni’s operation is also political. By taking up a demand from her ally and competitor Matteo Salvini (Lega), who has long called for the ban on the burqa, the head of the ruling coalition is pulling the rug out from under General Vannacci, credited with 8% in the polls. To the right of the right, the former officer thrives on the flaws of melonism, by promising the remigration of non-European immigrants. Not only has the naval blockade promised by Meloni remained a dead letter, but the head of the executive now aims less to stem immigration than to restrict its effects.
According to official Istat data, the number of foreign residents in Italy is around 10% of the total population, mainly from Romania, Albania and Morocco. Last year, 383,000 foreigners arrived on the peninsula, mainly in the regions with the most employment, in the north and center of the country. Locally, certain municipalities with a very high immigrant density must fight to encourage school mixing. This is the case of Monfalcone (Friuli-Venezia Giulia), a shipyard town on the Adriatic, whose primary and secondary schools have an average of 60% foreign students, often from the Indian subcontinent. A few years ago, the Lega town hall caused a scandal by chartering buses in order to distribute little Italians among different establishments and thus promote diversity.
School avoidance
Since 2010, a national circular has theoretically capped the proportion of foreign students per class at 30%, but exceptions exist. Mariastella Gelmini, Berlusconi’s former minister at the origin of this circular, today recognizes the difficulties of its application. Unlike the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella and the leaders of the Democratic Party (center left) who accuse Meloni of extremist drift, Gelmini supports the adoption of the new law. “Those on the left who present this measure as racist and xenophobic with the sole aim of attacking the government are wrong: in reality, the objective is to make school even more inclusive and to guarantee the right to education to all students, whether Italian or foreign”she declared to the Brescia oggi website.
In the background, figures from the Ministry of Education provide an overview of the demographic changes underway: 12.4% of public primary schools exceed the quota of 30% of foreign students. In cosmopolitan cities like Milan (Lombardy), where both immigrant populations and middle-class families reside, the fear of educational decline leads many families to flee their local school.
Many families are fleeing their neighborhood schools
However, school avoidance widens inequalities: of the 143 Milanese schools, 30 have more than 50% foreign students, 30 others have none. This phenomenon, called white flight (“white flight”) in Anglo-Saxon countries, designates the departure of indigenous populations from places where the immigrant population becomes the majority.
In Milan, 56% of Italian primary school children and 57% of Italian middle school students attend a school different from that of their area of residence, opting for the private sector or public establishments deemed to be of better quality. Questioned by the center-left newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano, sociologist Costanzo Ranci is concerned about this “school segregation” and ironically: “Given the dynamics observed, it is the Italians who should be put on the buses and taken back to the neighborhoods from which they come. » On the ground, this policy could hurt many Italian families. Neighbor of Monfalcone, social worker from Trieste Genny Mauro confides to the Tangwall Campagin: “In certain areas, the only solution to enforce a possible quota would be to open single classes of Italian students, all levels combined. Otherwise, it would push people towards private schools. » It remains to be seen whether the remedy will not aggravate the disease it is supposed to combat.
