Foreign pupils in schools: 911,000

Politicians are once again discussing foreign students, and yesterday, 20 September, the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, raised the issue again by announcing an ‘imminent Council of Ministers’ meeting’ featuring a three-pronged tightening of regulations: a cap on the number of foreign pupils per class; a requirement for the parents of pupils with serious difficulties integrating into school to learn Italian; and a ban on the burqa and niqab in schools.

These are complex and sensitive issues. Let us begin by setting the context. According to the MIM database, updated as at 31 August 2025, there are 911,578 pupils of non-Italian nationality in our schools, representing roughly 12 per cent of the total number of pupils (7.5 million). The largest number of foreign students is found in the north-western regions, where the Ministry has recorded 349,150 pupils, accounting for 38.3 per cent of the total. Next comes the North-East, with 232,729, equivalent to just over one in four foreign pupils (25.5 per cent). Furthermore, according to the latest ISMU report, non-Italian pupils face greater difficulties partly because they find themselves in disadvantaged circumstances: the risk of implicit school drop-out is higher (at 22.5 per cent compared with 11.6 per cent for Italian pupils). Academic results are also affected: the Invalsi assessment showed that foreign students in Year 9 score 22.6 points lower in Italian and 13.5 points lower in mathematics; as they progress through their studies, the maths gap closes whilst the gap in Italian remains; meanwhile, in English tests, non-Italian students perform better.

In short, it is a sensitive issue. In Italia, a cap on the number of foreign pupils per class has been in place for some time. According to a circular issued in January 2010 by the Ministry of Education, which was headed at the time by Mariastella Gelmini, the number of foreign pupils with limited knowledge of the Italian language must not exceed 30 per cent of the total number of pupils enrolled in each class and in each school, although there may be exceptions.

In short, it is a sort of recommendation. And so whilst some have complied with it, others have not managed to do so, partly due to the large number of foreign nationals in the area.

After all, then as now, the fundamental difficulty in adhering to ‘ceilings’ was summed up very clearly by the head of headteachers, Antonello Giannelli: ‘Setting a cap on the number of foreign pupils in classes is complicated because families choose their local school and cannot be turned away if there is a high concentration of immigrants in that area’. This principle of proximity, experts in the field explain, if not respected, could undermine the right to education, which is a constitutional principle. In short, Giannelli added: “From an educational perspective, the issue is well-founded and understandable, but it is difficult to find a practical solution.”