Valditara: “The cap on foreign nationals will apply to those who do not speak Italian. The exodus of white people worries me.”

“We are working on the final details, but the measure will centre on proficiency in Italian and there will be objective criteria to determine to whom it applies.” This is what the Minister for Education and Merit, Giuseppe Valditara, said in an interview with Corriere della Sera, referring to the new decree expected on Thursday in the Council of Ministers, which is set to enshrine in law – currently there is only a circular that has not been enforced since 2010 – the 30 per cent cap on foreign pupils in classes, as the Prime Minister herself had announced a few days ago from the stage at Fenix. “The limits,” he explained, “will not apply to pupils who have attended nursery school and are starting Year 1, or to those who have successfully completed a few years of schooling, as it can be assumed they have acquired a certain knowledge of Italian. Nor will they apply to pupils with a European passport.” “There are just under a thousand classes with more than 20 per cent newly arrived foreign pupils,” added Valditara, “who do not know our language, mostly in primary schools. We have trained and recruited specialist teachers for these classes. There are, however, 34,000 classes with at least 30 per cent foreign pupils, but as I said, the rule will only apply to those who do not have an adequate command of our language.”

However, a warning to the contrary has come from the Quirinale. The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, speaking at the opening of the new school year in Amatrice, emphasised that “school is the most effective means of integration for those coming from other countries and for young people born in Italy who are the children of emigrants” and that its role is “to forge bonds, win the trust of families, and help prevent the formation of ghettos and the erection of barriers”. While Valditara described the Head of State’s speech as “wonderful”, he does not seem inclined to back down because, as he explained, “the phenomenon of ‘white flight’ worries me greatly: it exists worldwide but also affects Italy. If we reduce the proportion of pupils who do not speak our language to a balanced level, the other pupils might return. That is why I find the left’s controversies pointless: there is a risk here of sliding back towards the Alabama of the 1950s, with ghetto schools, those of segregation.” And he responded to those accusing the government of rushing through the legislation to stem Vannacci’s rise on the right: “We do not engage in rhetoric but in concrete action. And we have been working on these issues since well before FnV. The legislation on strengthening language support for newly arrived foreigners, which I strongly championed, dates from last year.”

The legislation should also include a requirement for the parents of foreign pupils to learn Italian: “If you speak Arabic at home,” said the minister, “you forget what you’ve learnt at school. International studies tell us that it is important for parents to know the language and keep track of what their children are doing at school.” On the ban on wearing the burqa and the niqab – which should also be included in the decree – Valditara is unequivocal: “It is a matter of civilisation; I am sorry for those who are stirring up controversy, but the burqa is the symbol of a violent patriarchal mindset that regards women as non-persons, and which we in the Lega have always opposed. Our values hold that women’s freedom is non-negotiable.” Regarding the inevitable organisational difficulties that the new decree will bring, Valditara explained that the regulation will assign a “coordinating role to local education authorities, which will be able to transfer surplus pupils to another nearby school, as is already the case today for surplus Italian pupils. Inaction will no longer be an option. Furthermore, we are planning a specific organisational model”. “It is clear,” he concluded, “that there will be scope for an exemption where it is not possible to transfer them to neighbouring schools, but the regulation is binding. For such cases, a budget of several million has been set aside to recruit teachers to strengthen Italian language provision for foreign nationals who remain at the same school. We are not making empty announcements, but building a system designed to work.”