FLC CGIL: “Survey on Islam in schools”, but the Ministry denies it: “No registration”

A “most serious” and “unacceptable” incident. The CGIL Federation of Knowledge Workers does not beat about the bush and is calling for the immediate withdrawal of the memo sent by the Ministry of Education and Merit to regional education authorities, in which headteachers are asked to report ‘as a matter of urgency’ on initiatives linked to the Islamic world. The union’s complaint prompted a swift response from the offices on Viale Trastevere in Rome: “No census or registration” on their part. This was, in fact, the accusation levelled at them by the FLC CGIL, which claimed that “behind generic references to news stories and alleged topics of public interest, the Ministry is asking for reports on meetings with imams, visits to mosques and debates on the Islamic world”.

The trade union refers to a confidential memo sent to managers by the Regional School Office (USR) asking them to “verify and report” whether there are any “educational institutions” within their area of responsibility that have hosted these meetings or visits, “specifying, where possible, the number of schools involved”. This is because, as the note goes on to state, the Ministry “has requested that certain information be obtained as a matter of urgency regarding an issue that is the subject of particular attention in public debate”. The memo also asks for a response “even if the outcome of the investigation is negative” in order to enable “a prompt response to be provided to the Ministry”.

However, officials at Viale Trastevere deny that this constitutes ‘profiling’ and describe it as a ‘necessary and routine gathering of information from the Regional Education Offices in order to comply with two resolutions, currently under consideration by the Seventh Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, tabled by Rossano Sasso MP and Giovanna Miele MP, concerning, respectively, the risk of ‘Islamist indoctrination’ and the strengthening of guarantees of pluralism in schools’”.

In any case, for the Flc Cgil, which has expressed concern over the circular sent to schools, this is “yet another exercise in ideological control” that undermines “school autonomy”. In a statement issued early this morning, the union accuses the Ministry of fuelling “suspicion” and of “trampling on the cultural pluralism that should underpin the school system as enshrined in the Constitution” rather than “promoting dialogue and inclusion”. It emphasises that schools, therefore, are not places “for profiling, but for learning and discussion”.