School decree: work is underway on securing funding; the text is due at the Quirinale on Monday

“Knowing Italian means integrating,” says Minister Giuseppe Valditara, who draws a distinction between the new provisions and the old circulars: the latter, he emphasises, were merely recommendations with no binding force.

The distribution of foreign pupils varies considerably from one region to another. According to Skuola.net’s analysis of the Ministry’s data for 2022–2023, there are 4,223 schools where foreign pupils account for over 30 per cent of the total, representing 7.9 per cent of the total number of schools. Looking instead at state schools, the proportion exceeding the threshold reaches 16.8 per cent in Lombardy and 15.6 per cent in Emilia-Romagna, where it stands at 25 per cent in primary schools. These are followed by Liguria (13.9 per cent), Piedmont (11.2 per cent), Veneto (10.5 per cent) and Tuscany (10.4 per cent).

In Southern Italy, the percentages are much lower: 0.4 per cent in Puglia and Sardinia, 0.6 per cent in Campania, 1.1 per cent in Basilicata and 1.5 per cent in Sicily. Among the provinces, the proportion of foreign students out of the total number of pupils is highest in Prato (28 per cent) and Piacenza (25.2 per cent). In terms of pupil numbers, Milan leads the way with over 82,000 pupils, followed by Rome with 66,000 and Turin with 40,000.

Overall, there are around 930,000 foreign pupils, accounting for 11.6 per cent of the school-age population. However, 65.2 per cent were born in Italia: almost two in three. These are young people who have grown up in Italian schools, many of whom speak Italian as their mother tongue. Citizenship and language difficulties do not necessarily go hand in hand. If we consider only those foreign pupils born abroad, the proportion of classes with over 30 per cent foreign pupils falls sharply.

The political debate also drew in Sergio Mattarella. Giorgia Meloni referred to the circular on foreign pupils that the current Head of State signed in 1990 whilst serving as Minister for Education. The day before, Mattarella had highlighted the constitutional safeguards for the right to education. The circular contained the phrase ‘where possible’, which left room for schools to take their specific circumstances into account.

Amid the controversy, discussions with the Quirinale have continued. The latest draft to circulate contains two amendments: the need for an alternative school close to the pupil’s home, and the decision not to separate pupils from parents who do not attend Italian language courses.

The next step is now for Mattarella to sign the bill. Another issue in relations between the Quirinale and Palazzo Chigi will be the electoral law. The Quirinale is not prejudging the matter, whilst the Government faces a vote of confidence and the appeals to the Constitutional Court are already prepared.

The process could lead to a ruling between the second half of January and the first week of February. If, however, the bill were referred back to Parliament, its re-approval would be postponed until after the budget, thereby reducing or eliminating the time available for the Court’s decision in the final months of the parliamentary term. The timetable for the constitutional ruling thus overlaps with that of a possible dissolution of Parliament.