Valditara: ‘We have spent 23 billion on schools through the NRRP and national funds’

“We have achieved exceptional results, exceeding expectations: investment totalling over 23 billion from both the NRRP and national funds has been used to create 173,000 nursery places – the European target was 150,000 – and over 12,000 school buildings, around a third of the total, have been refurbished. We are emerging from 50 years of neglect and are now creating safe and attractive schools.” This was stated by the Minister for Education and Merit, Giuseppe Valditara, as he opened the press conference at the Ministry of Education on the use of PNRR funds.

The minister highlighted the positive figure regarding the fight against early school leaving, which has fallen to 7.3 per cent: “We want to continue investing in school buildings and the quality of teaching to provide attractive and competitive schools. Funding has already been earmarked for the next school funding agreement,” added Valditara.

Turning to the details, a total of 13 billion has been allocated to school building projects, covering a total of 12,091 works. For new schools, 800 million has been allocated for 215 new or refurbished schools. For school canteens, 960 million has been allocated for 1,772 completed projects (55.74 per cent of which were in the South). Around 1 million people, including teachers and school staff, have been trained (at a cost of 800 million), and 155,952 ‘Class 4.0’ classrooms and 7,698 laboratories have been created. The ITS Academies have also been a great success: enrolment has risen from 11,000 students to almost 41,000, following a one-off investment of 1.5 billion.