Education: the opposition says the cap on foreign pupils was already set out in a circular. Valditara: they’re nostalgic for ‘ghetto’ classes

Reactions from the centre-left to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s statements during the Fenix event organised by Gioventù Nazionale were not long in coming. The main point of contention has become schools, where the Prime Minister has announced plans to introduce legislation capping the number of foreign pupils per class and banning the burqa.

Following these remarks, PD leader Elly Schlein warned: ‘Meloni must put an end to her failures and announce when the election will be held.’ And then there are those, such as the AVS (Green-Left Alliance), who point out that the cap on the number of foreign pupils per class had already been set out in a circular, but that this subsequently ran into operational difficulties in its implementation, such as the reallocation of surplus pupils for each individual class. These are difficulties that the Government aims to overcome through primary legislation, which would therefore carry greater ‘weight’ than a ministerial circular.

“The opposition seems to be nostalgic for 1950s Alabama and is indirectly supporting ghetto classes – those exclusively for foreign nationals on the one hand, and classes for Italians on the other,” said the Minister for Education and Merit, Giuseppe Valditara, commenting on the controversy following Meloni’s announcement. As for the issue of female students wearing the burqa, “different identities should be respected even when they are an expression of a patriarchal view of women. In short, they’re progressives who flip-flop”, was Valditara’s observation.

The opposition, however, is pressing the issue. “It’s the same old story: Meloni is making nonsensical announcements, making a mockery of Italians in her bid to catch up with Vannacci. The maximum limit of 30 per cent foreign pupils per class,” explains Elisabetta Piccolotti, MP for the AVS (Green Left Alliance), “is already provided for in a circular issued by the then Minister Gelmini. Naturally, exceptions are made for reasons relating to the geographical location of schools and because classes can sometimes number as many as 30 pupils. It is therefore urgent to pass the AVS bill – which is scheduled for debate in the Chamber of Deputies in November – which reduces the minimum and maximum number of pupils per class by setting a cap of 20. With smaller classes, it would be possible to deliver high-quality teaching with personalised learning pathways, provide better support for pupils from migrant backgrounds, and improve the inclusion of pupils with disabilities by preventing an excessive number of such cases in the same classroom.”

“The same lack of logic is evident in the announcement regarding the burqa ban: does the government intend to address the means of empowerment to be guaranteed to pupils from obscurantist families, or does it know only the futile language of bans?” Piccolotti asks once again.