Italy ministers agree to ban burqa and niqab in school and cap foreigners in class

Italy ministers agree to ban burqa and niqab in school and cap foreigners in class

The Italian government has backed a ban on the burqa and niqab in schools, together with a ceiling on the proportion of pupils in any one class who speak little Italian.

A 30% cap will be applied to children who do not have Italian citizenship or who have a poor command of Italian in the first year of primary, middle and high school.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called the measures "common-sense tools that do not divide but really help to integrate".

Opposition parties say the government is courting the agenda of the hard-right Futuro Nazionale party ahead of next year’s general election.

Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara has said the limit is "purely linguistic" rather than based on citizenship, while he has tried to present the ban on the niqab and burqa as a question of gender equality.

"You must go to school with your face uncovered," Meloni said when announcing the plans on Sunday, adding that no-one should be able to decide that a young woman must hide herself in the name of tradition.

There were several drafts of the decree before Thursday’s council of ministers meeting, but the main details were already clear.

The veil ban would cover the burqa and niqab, but not the hijab, which leaves the face visible.

The niqab is a face veil that leaves the area around the eyes exposed. However, it can be worn with a separate eye veil. It is worn with an accompanying headscarf.

The burka is a one-piece veil that covers the face and body. Often there is a mesh screen around the eyes to see through.

Non-Italian citizens account for 11.6% of pupils in Italy’s schools, according to the research institution Fondazione ISMU.

The 30% limit on pupils with limited Italian will apply differently across stages of education.

In primary schools, it would cover non-Italian citizens who were either not born in Italy or who have not attended at least two years of nursery school.

In lower- and upper-secondary schools, it would cover pupils without Italian citizenship who have not successfully completed at least three years in the Italian school system.

Local school offices would be asked to distribute pupils with weak Italian more evenly among nearby schools. Where that is not possible, exemptions would apply, along with extra Italian teaching.

The goal was to prevent "ghetto classes", the education minister said.

According to the Ansa news agency, the draft goes further in relation to parents. Schools would have to report to social services cases in which persistent language barriers among those with parental responsibility obstruct a child’s integration. Free Italian courses would be offered.

The measure is a decree law, so it can take effect immediately, but it must be approved by parliament within 60 days.

Italy already has guidance on Italian language in schools. A 2010 ministerial notice under then-Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini set a 30% limit "as a rule" on pupils without Italian citizenship. The new decree turns that limit into law.

The political opposition says the plan is as much about politics as it is about schools.

Critics accuse Meloni of pandering to Roberto Vannacci, a retired military general who leads the hard-right Futuro Nazionale party and is viewed as a threat to the governing coalition’s right flank.

The leader of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), Elly Schlein, described the plan as propaganda and impossible to carry out. PD deputy and chamber vice-president Anna Ascani also accused the government of propaganda at the expense of schoolchildren.

Valditara, speaking by video link from New York at a press conference, rejected the accusation.

"We are not chasing Vannacci; if anything, he is chasing us," he said.

Vannacci said he agreed with the measures, but said they should have been introduced years ago.

The League’s Matteo Salvini, who unveiled a separate package of measures on what he called "political Islam" on Wednesday, accused Vannacci of "continually voting against the government".

Salvini said he hoped Futuro Nazionale would support the League’s new proposals.