AI, art and culture: Majorana and Volta projects

Two Italian schools, the IISS Ettore Majorana in Brindisi and the Liceo Scientifico Statale Alessandro Volta in Reggio Calabria are shortlisted among the 50 finalists for the first edition of the USD 1 million Global Schools Prize 2026, an initiative of the Varkey Foundation that celebrates the world's most innovative and impactful schools that are reinventing the education of the future.

Established by renowned education pioneer and philanthropist Sunny Varkey, the Global Schools Prize is the most important award in the field. The two schools were selected from almost 3,000 entries from 113 countries around the world.

The IISS Ettore Majorana, in collaboration with Fab AI, a non-profit organisation that develops and evaluates artificial intelligence technologies to improve education in low- and middle-income countries, is a finalist in the Transformation through AI category, while the Liceo Scientifico Statale Alessandro Volta is a finalist in the Arts and Culture category. The IISS Ettore Majorana is a state secondary school that, with its 1,285 students, has progressively established itself as one of the world's leading voices in the field of ethical artificial intelligence applied to education. Headed by headmaster Salvatore Giuliano, the school, which operates in a region characterised by strong economic inequalities, trains graduates with employment rates 25% above the regional average.