Maturities in 'diploma mills', the clampdown arrives: strict rules to stop the phenomenon

Backpack on their shoulders and trolley bag in hand, thousands of students will take their baccalaureate in another region in so-called 'diplomas', the parish schools that make it easier and cheaper to obtain the desired piece of paper. However, this may not be possible for much longer. The Minister of Education and Merit, Giuseppe Valditara , has in fact launched a sweeping investigation - the results of which are awaited - ahead of the baccalaureate that will kick off on Wednesday. The Guardia di Finanza inspection had already started last December in several suspect schools in the country.

As many as 70 parish schools are affected: 40 in Campania, 15 in Lazio and 15 in Sicily. Maturandi, therefore, migrating from one city to another, three (or more) years in one and ghost classes filled in the fifth year. All this may become just a memory.

Public schools from next year will, in fact, have to comply with the new rules laid down in the tightening contained in the Simplification Decree and already approved by the Council of Ministers. Zero tolerance for easy graduation is, in fact, Valditara's line. Electronic report cards, an online register and an information protocol for the entire school year are some of the measures envisaged to stem the phenomenon and prevent state exam cheats from getting away without ever having attended.

The outward tickets of this "diploma tourism" so far have mostly been to the South, a record for Campania, where high school leavers from parish schools accounted for 30% of the total, less than 7% in the rest of Italy. This figure exceeded 40% only in the province of Salerno, where, on the other hand, students in these institutes accounted for 5% of the total for the same year, according to Tuttoscuola's analysis. In contrast to the general figure, the number of high school leavers in parish schools last year increased by 2,698 to over 56,000. According to the portal, at least 10,000 candidates will be moving this year.

In total, however, between state and private institutes, there will be 526,317 students who on Wednesday, at 8.30 a.m., will face the first test that is the same for everyone: the Italian subject with its totonomi for the literature track, including D'Annunzio, Pirandello, Ungaretti and those who have not been out for the longest time. But in these hours it is not only traces and diplomas that capture the attention. It is the case of examination commissions where 10-15% will be made up of teachers who have been retired for no more than three years and who have applied for this role.
In the meantime, the first plenary meeting of the commissions took place today. During the meeting, among other things, the starting date of the interviews for each class and the order in which candidates will be called for the orals were also decided. In the municipalities where there will be a ballot, the oral exam will have to be postponed by a few days, and so some students will be forced to wait a few more days - useful for some more revision - before they can say goodbye to school.