Meloni government bans burqas, caps foreign students in Italian schools

Italy’s government has moved forward with plans to ban face coverings in schools and cap the number of foreign students in classrooms. It has also threatened to exact fines of up to $1,140 for breaches of the new rules.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni outlined the proposed changes on Sunday at a gathering of the youth wing of her nationalist conservative Brothers of Italy (FdI) party. On Thursday, Meloni’s cabinet adopted the decree-law, rendering the wearing of burqas and niqabs in schools illegal and introducing a 30-percent cap on non-Italian speakers in classrooms starting next year.

Failure to comply will be punishable with a fine of up to $1,140 (1,000 euros).

The measure is a decree-law, meaning it can take effect immediately, but it must be ratified by parliament within 60 days.

President Sergio Mattarella, who also has to sign off on it, flagged this week that he was wary of any barriers being placed on education.

Meloni said the “tools” to learn the Italian language and “stop” burqas and niqabs in schools were “common sense that do not divide” in a post on her X account.

“This is the direction we want to continue to follow: a school that integrates without giving up on rules, that supports those who have more difficulties and that puts everyone in a position to start from the same point,” she wrote.

Opponents said the government was using the rules to try to counter the growing appeal of the far-right National Future (FN) party led by former army general Roberto Vannacci ahead of next year’s elections.

FN, which has made schools a central battleground in its campaign advocating “remigration”, called for a crackdown on burqas in schools in July.

Opposition politicians accused Meloni of prioritising culture-war politics over the interests of students and schools.

“It is a shameful decree that seeks to hide the government’s inability to address the real problems of the public school system behind a new ideological banner,” Elly Schlein, the leader of the centre-left Democratic Party, said.

Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara said local school authorities will coordinate student placements to avoid concentrations of non-Italian-speaking pupils, while schools unable to comply would be eligible for exemptions and additional language-support funding.

He said it would affect about 1,000 classrooms, or about 0.3 percent of the total nationwide.

Teachers’ unions criticised what they called a lack of both consultation and resources for the measure.

School principals questioned how the measure could work in areas with large migrant populations.

“From an educational perspective, the issue is well-founded and valid, but it’s difficult to turn it into a practical solution,” Antonello Giannelli, president of the National Association of Principals, said.

According to Education Ministry data, non-citizen students accounted for 11.2 percent of Italy’s school population in the 2022-23 academic year, while classes with more than 30 percent foreign students represented 7.6 percent of the total.