Foreigners at school: is the real problem their passport or their Italian? Featured in ‘The Clash of the Week’

As you know, the Council of Ministers has approved the education decree introducing, from the 2027–28 academic year, a 30 per cent cap in the first year of school for certain pupils without Italian citizenship: in primary schools, the limit applies to those not born in Italy or who have not attended at least two years of nursery school; in lower and upper secondary schools, it applies to those who have not successfully completed at least three years in the Italian school system. The government has presented the measure as a tool to combat concentrations that hinder linguistic integration and provides for exemptions where such distribution is physically impossible. Critics, however, point to a contradiction: if the problem is proficiency in Italian, why continue to use citizenship as a criterion as well? Meloni referred to the circulars issued when Mattarella was Minister of Education. Mattarella, on the other hand, had pointed out that schools must promote integration and prevent the formation of ghettos. The real point of contention, however, is very practical: should integration be measured by nationality or by the ability to function within the Italian school system?

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