Here's the school decree: "30% cap on foreigners in first-year classes, a thousand-euro fine for wearing a burqa."

A 30% cap on foreign students in first-year elementary and middle school classes and a thousand-euro fine for those who wear a burqa to school .

These are two of the measures approved today by the Council of Ministers, announced in recent days by Giorgia Meloni.

In primary school, "the number of students with non-Italian citizenship who were not born in Italy or who have not attended at least two years of preschool" must not exceed 30% of the total in each first grade.

In lower and upper secondary schools, the 30% ceiling in the first classes applies to "students with non-Italian citizenship who have not successfully attended the national education system for at least three school years" .

The 30% cap, Minister Valditara said, "refers to those foreign children who don't know our language, or who don't have an adequate command of it." The provincial school board, she explained, "will assign the additional students to local schools," "so it's not a matter of sending the child 20 km away, but of directing them, where the percentage exceeds 30%, to local schools."

As stated in the draft decree, schools, "within the scope of their autonomy," will use these criteria to establish the initial classes of elementary, middle, and high schools "starting in the 2027/28 school year, in order to ensure a balanced composition of classes, functional to the quality of educational and teaching activities, the full enjoyment of the right to education, and the integration of foreign students."

If it is not possible to apply the cap to foreign students due to the number of enrollment applications, "the local school offices, in consultation with the school principals concerned, shall adopt the necessary organizational measures to ensure a balanced presence of such students among neighboring schools, in compliance with the principle of proximity and full effectiveness of the right to education, taking into account the student's domicile or, in any case, proven family needs, with particular reference to those related to the need for assistance for children with disabilities, which do not allow for alternative solutions."

Furthermore, in the case of a minor's serious linguistic difficulties, the family unit must be supported, but if the family fails to provide support, the minor may be placed outside of the family . "The school must report to social services any cases in which persistent language barriers on the part of the parent or guardian hinder school integration."

The burqa

Furthermore, an administrative fine of 200 to 1,000 euros is foreseen for showing up to school wearing a burqa ; when the violation is committed by a minor, the fine is applied to the parent: «Unless there are specific health or safety reasons, it is forbidden to participate in curricular and extracurricular activities of the educational institutions and in those foreseen in the context of school-family relations with one's face covered or in any other manner that prevents facial recognition».

Technological and professional high schools

Technical institutes will be renamed "technological high schools," and vocational institutes will be renamed "professional high schools." This is the provision of the draft decree currently before the Council of Ministers, which also addresses the number of hours required for technical institutes as part of the reform linked to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).

ISEE for books

Valditara explained that €21 million has been allocated for discounted textbooks, to broaden the target audience by increasing the ISEE bracket from €30,000 to €40,000.

Digital services

€14 million is being allocated for the 2026-27 two-year period to "promote the simplification and innovation of school administrative services" through a two-year program adopted by the Ministry of Education and Merit. This is provided for in the draft decree law on schools currently being examined by the Council of Ministers.

The program, it states, aims to "develop digital services within the SIDI information system related to the management of personnel activities and related administrative procedures, also with the aim of creating a unified platform for managing the programming and evaluation processes of schools and related administrative documentation, as well as harmonizing current software applications to maximize interoperability with various databases." The text authorizes expenditures of €1 million for 2026 and €13 million for 2027 to develop the program.

Georgia Meloni

"Today, the Council of Ministers approved the decree on schools. It includes a 30% limit in classes for students with inadequate Italian proficiency, more tools for learning our language, and an end to burqas and niqabs in schools. Common-sense tools that don't divide, but help foster true integration, avoiding ghetto-like classrooms and giving all students the same opportunities," Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wrote on social media. "This is the direction we want to continue pursuing: a school that integrates without abandoning the rules, that supports those with the most difficulties, and that enables everyone to start from the same starting point."

Elly Schlein

Democratic Party Secretary Elly Schlein calls it a "decree of shame" : "What emerges from today's cabinet meeting confirms that the Meloni government is living on a different planet than the real country. These days, Italian families are worried about the condition of school buildings—68 collapses and 80,000 accidents in the last year alone—and about the over €500 spent on textbooks, while Italian teachers' salaries remain among the lowest in Europe. Faced with all this, the government's response is to kick foreign children out of the classroom. Who do they think they're kidding? After four years of cuts and no serious investment in school buildings, they're inventing a new witch hunt targeting the youngest children. It's a shameful decree, which attempts to hide the government's inability to address the concrete problems of public schools behind a new ideological banner. School is open to all, as our Constitution states."

(Unioneonline/L)