School decree signed by the Quirinale; fund for Ministry of Education staff scrapped

After six days of further fine-tuning, the Quirinale has put its signature at the bottom of school decree approved by the Council of Ministers on Thursday 24 September. The measure (Decree-Law 170/2026), comprising 15 articles, published in today’s Official Gazette and coming into force on Thursday 1 October, now goes to the Senate for conversion into law.

Compared with the draft submitted to the Council of Ministers, a mini-fund for MIM staff has been omitted following observations by the State General Accounting Office. There are, however, no significant changes to the ‘core’ measures that had led to various preliminary discussions between MIM officials, Palazzo Chigi and Colle.

To begin with, the introduction by law, from the 2027/28 academic year, of a 30 per cent cap on pupils from abroad who were not born in Italia and have limited familiarity with Italian. The exemptions reported in recent days have also been confirmed: primary school pupils who have attended two years of nursery school will be exempt, as will those in lower secondary and upper secondary schools who have completed three years of nursery school and successfully progressed to the next year. The cap will apply from the 2026/27 academic year onwards for any new pupils joining existing classes, but only where possible.

To deal with any cost overruns, a further 3.4 million will be allocated in 2027 and 14.1 in 2028, which will be used to organise Italian language enhancement courses. Finally, the ban on entering schools whilst the face is covered (by a burqa, niqab, helmets, etc.) has also been confirmed, as have Italian language courses at CPIA centres for parents of pupils with serious gaps in their Italian. In both cases, offenders face a fine of between 200 and 1,000 euros.