Italy is preparing to ban face coverings in schools and introduce limits on the number of foreign students allowed in each class, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Sunday, placing migration and integration at the centre of a renewed assertion of her right-wing political credentials.
Meloni announced the proposed measures at an annual gathering of the youth wing of her Brothers of Italy party. She said the government would soon present legislation to a Cabinet meeting establishing a maximum number of foreign students per class. The proposal would also require parents of foreign students experiencing serious difficulties integrating into the Italian school system to learn Italian, while banning burqas and niqabs in schools.
“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 said.
The proposals come as Italy continues to face significant political and social pressure over migration. Its central Mediterranean location has made the country particularly exposed to migrant arrivals, turning immigration into a persistent challenge for successive governments and one of the most politically sensitive issues in the country.
The integration of migrants, particularly those from Muslim-majority countries, remains contentious in Italian politics and society. Questions surrounding religious symbols, cultural integration, citizenship rules and immigration policy have repeatedly divided public opinion, with schools becoming an important arena in debates over how integration should take place.
Meloni framed the proposed limits on foreign students as a measure intended to support integration rather than prevent it. She argued that classrooms could help students who do not speak Italian when their numbers remain relatively small, but that larger concentrations of students facing language difficulties could create a different situation.
“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 said.
Meloni did not specify how many foreign students would be permitted in an individual class under the proposed system. According to Fondazione ISMU, a research institution, students who are not Italian citizens account for 11.6% of those enrolled in Italian schools, meaning nearly 12 in every 100 students are foreign nationals.
The proposed restrictions on face coverings represent a separate but related element of the government’s approach to integration and cultural practices. Meloni specifically referred to burqas and niqabs, arguing that students should attend school with their faces visible.
“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.
The proposals bring questions of immigration, language, religious expression and education together in a single policy debate. For Meloni’s government, the measures are being presented as part of an effort to define the conditions for integration within Italy’s public institutions. At the same time, their announcement underscores the continuing political sensitivity surrounding migration and the place of migrant communities in Italian society.
