Italy to ban veils in schools, limit foreign students per class, Meloni says

Manon Cruz/Reuters/File

Italy is preparing to ban face coverings in schools and to cap the number of foreign students per class, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Sunday as she played up her right-wing credentials at a youth event organised by her party.

Italy is among the European countries most exposed to migrant arrivals because of its central Mediterranean location, making migration a hot-button issue and a major challenge for successive governments.

The integration of migrants, particularly those from Muslim-majority countries, remains contentious in Italian politics and society. Debates over religious symbols, cultural integration, citizenship rules and immigration policy frequently polarize public opinion.

“A measure will soon be presented to a Cabinet meeting to legally establish a maximum number of foreign students per class. It also requires parents of foreign students facing serious difficulties integrating into the school system to learn Italian and bans burqas and niqabs in schools,” Meloni told an annual gathering of the youth wing of her Brothers of Italy party.

“If there is only one child in a class who doesn’t understand Italian, that child will likely be able to learn the language and integrate quickly with the help of classmates and teachers. However, if the number of children who don’t understand the language becomes large – or even the majority – that is no longer integration; it is neglect,” she added.

Meloni did not specify what the maximum number of foreign students per class would be.

Students who are not Italian citizens account for 11.6% of those enrolled in Italian schools — nearly 12 in every 100 students — according to Fondazione ISMU, a research institution.

“You must go to school with your face uncovered, and in Italy no one, in the name of a real or supposed tradition, can decide that a young woman must hide herself, ” Meloni said.

马农·克鲁兹/路透社/档案照片

意大利总理乔治娅·梅洛尼周日表示，意大利正准备禁止在学校佩戴口罩，并限制每个班级的外国学生人数。她在自己政党组织的一次青年活动上强调了自己的右翼立场。

由于地处地中海中部，意大利是欧洲最容易受到移民涌入影响的国家之一，这使得移民问题成为一个棘手的问题，也是历届政府面临的一项重大挑战。

移民融入问题，特别是来自穆斯林占多数国家的移民融入问题，在意大利政治和社会中仍然是一个极具争议的话题。围绕宗教符号、文化融合、公民身份规则和移民政策的辩论，常常导致公众舆论两极分化。

梅洛尼在意大利兄弟党青年翼的年度集会上表示：“一项旨在从法律上规定每班外国学生人数上限的法案即将提交内阁会议审议。该法案还要求在融入学校系统方面面临严重困难的外国学生的家长学习意大利语，并禁止在学校穿着罩袍和面纱。”

“如果班上只有一个孩子听不懂意大利语，那么在同学和老师的帮助下，这个孩子很可能很快就能学会这门语言并融入集体。但是，如果听不懂意大利语的孩子人数众多——甚至占多数——那就不是融入了，而是忽视了，”她补充道。

梅洛尼没有具体说明每班外国学生的最大人数是多少。

据研究机构 Fondazione ISMU 称，非意大利公民的学生占意大利学校入学学生的 11.6%——几乎每 100 名学生中就有 12 名是非意大利公民。

“你必须摘下脸去上学，在意大利，没有人可以以真实或所谓的传统名义，决定一个年轻女子必须遮住自己的脸，”梅洛尼说。