Italy is preparing new school rules that would ban face coverings such as burqas and niqabs.
The rules would also limit the number of foreign students in individual classrooms, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has announced.
Speaking at a youth event organised by her Brothers of Italy party, Meloni said the government would soon present legislation to the Cabinet.
It would also require some parents of foreign students struggling with integration to learn Italian.
But why target classrooms? Meloni argued that language can become a barrier when too many students in a class cannot communicate in Italian.
“If there is only one child in a class who doesn’t understand Italian,” she said, classmates and teachers can help.
But if such students become a large proportion, she argued, “that is no longer integration; it is neglect.”
Immigration Debate Intensifies
The government has not yet said how many foreign students would be allowed per class.
Foreign citizens currently make up 11.6% of Italy’s school population, according to research group Fondazione ISMU.
Meloni also defended the face-covering ban in cultural terms, saying students should attend school with their faces visible.
“You must go to school with your face uncovered,” she said.
The proposals are likely to reignite Italy’s long-running debate over immigration, integration and religious expression.
The classroom, once again, is becoming the centre of a much bigger political argument.
