Stop lessons, dilemma for families: private centres or summer plan?

Lessons ended last week in Campania, Emilia Romagna, Marche and Veneto. Today the last bell will also ring for students in Lazio, Lombardy, Calabria and Sardinia. And then on to Bolzano, which, on 16 June, will be the last to close the 2025/26 school year. At that point, many families will be faced with the usual crossroads of every early summer: what to do with their children while waiting to go on holiday. For those who do not have a family network to support them, with grandparents in the lead, there tend to be two options on the table, also to be activated cumulatively: taking advantage of the funds and projects that schools have put, or are putting, in place with the Summer Plan, and/or resorting to a public or private summer centre.

Apart from the (few) existing financial supports (state or local), parents' choice is often tied to places, availability, and the scheduling of individual schools (in several institutions, the MIM-funded Summer Plan weeks scheduled between June and July make use of 2025 resources).

The 2026 notice (with which Minister Giuseppe Valditara put 300 million euro into the pot) closed on 4 June, with the submission of applications by educational institutions (including paritarian schools). The funds obtainable depend on the number of pupils: up to 200 students are entitled to EUR 16,200, from 201 to 800 students, the amount rises to EUR 52,000, with 801 students and upwards, the funding reaches EUR 80,000. With these resources, schools will be able to activate educational and training courses for the enhancement of skills (foreign languages, Stem disciplines, computational thinking, just to give a few examples), inclusion and sociality, to be implemented from the date of authorisation, during extracurricular hours, especially during the summer break. Projects must be started for at least 30% of the authorised modules by 31 December 2026 and must be formally closed by 31 December 2027.

The modules have a duration of 30 and 60 hours, according to the school's choice, within the expenditure ceiling; the foreign language courses alone (which at primary level are English only) can also have a duration of 100 hours.

Compared to the long summer break, however, the schools' offer is limited and concentrated only in a few weeks. "The initiatives of the 'Summer Plan' and the municipal summer centres - comments Anna Rea, Adoc president - are insufficient. The funds allocated and the open schools do not cover the huge demand: many territories remain uncovered and many families are left out of the rankings. Even the economic benefits linked to the Isee are not enough'.