Meloni: Italy to ban burqa and niqab in schools

Italian Prime Minister George Meloni announced the preparation of a bill that introduces a ban on wearing the burqa and niqab in schools. In addition, it provides for a limit on the number of foreign students in the classroom, according to ANSA.

At the annual gathering of the Brothers of Italy youth wing, George Meloni said students "should go to school with their faces open and in Italy no one, whether in the name of a real or perceived tradition, can force a girl to hide herself." The demand to limit the number of foreigners in classes, according to the Prime Minister, is driven by the desire to preserve the quality of education and increase the level of integration. “If there’s only one child in a classroom who doesn’t understand Italian, they’re more likely to be able to learn the language and integrate quickly with the support of classmates and teachers,” she said, noting that if there are many, if not most, “then it’s not integration, it’s negligence.”.

In addition, it is planned to oblige parents of foreign students to learn Italian if families have serious difficulties with integration into society. Meloni did not specify what the maximum number of foreigners could be in the classroom. According to the research institute Fondazione ISMU, now the proportion of foreigners attending Italian schools is 11.6%, that is about 12 for every 100 schoolchildren.

Alena Miklashevskaya