Sex education in schools: parental consent is required to discuss ‘gender’

The Minister for Education and Merit, Giuseppe Valditara, is pressing ahead with the issue of informed consent for sex education in schools. Despite the opposition having gathered 500,000 signatures calling for the complete repeal of Law 104/2026, coinciding with the start of the 2026/27 academic year, the Ministry has issued a circular containing instructions for schools to update the joint responsibility agreement with families and take the new legislation into account. The focus is on extracurricular courses and the activities set out in the three-year educational programme on gender identity. However, the ministerial note specifies that the restrictions do not apply to education on respect or the fight against violence and discrimination.

The circular reiterates the provisions of Article 1 of Law 104/2026. Namely, that in ‘nursery and primary schools, extracurricular activities or activities designed to broaden the educational programme on topics relating to sexuality are prohibited’, subject to the provisions of the new National Guidelines on School Curricula, which came into force this year, and the Guidelines for the Teaching of Civic Education, issued 12 months ago.

This means that it remains permissible ‘from nursery school onwards, to acquire a basic understanding of the human body and its sexual differences and, in primary school, knowledge of the reproductive functions and systems of the human body, including the sexual systems, as part of science lessons’. Similarly – the document continues – an integral part ‘of the educational programme is education in respect for the individual, in proper and responsible relationships, in empathy and in combating all forms of violence and discrimination, using content, language and methodologies appropriate to the pupils’ age and level of maturity’.

The point that activities aimed at fostering respect are permitted without the need for explicit consent from families is reiterated in the paragraph on lower and upper secondary schools. It is emphasised there that informed consent is not required ‘for activities and initiatives relating to the curricular objectives of education on respect for the individual, appropriate and responsible relationships, empathy, the dignity of every person, and the combating of violence and discrimination’. With specific attention to the issue of violence against women. Here, the circular refers to a survey carried out in May 2025 by the Ministry in upper secondary schools, according to which 97% of the 2,322 schools participating in the survey (representing 86.7 per cent of the total) had carried out – during the 2024/25 school year – specific activities aimed at fostering respect, of which 1,965 were curricular and 284 were extracurricular.

The introduction of informed consent therefore concerns sex education beyond the scope of the school curriculum. It will be required of families for ‘activities carried out on an extracurricular basis and, where applicable, included in the Three-Year Educational Programme or identified as part of the expansion of the educational provision, which relate, in particular, theories on gender identity, even if dealt with indirectly whilst discussing other topics’.