The problem of monocultural classes does exist. This applies to the Church as well.

Rome. Once the veneer of election campaign controversy has been stripped away, the issue of foreign pupils in classrooms would have all the makings of a consensus between the right and the left. It is not a partisan issue, but one of realism. Even the Catholic Church, years ago, warned of the risks of creating ‘monocultural’ groups. The issue of ‘ghetto classes’ is not a new one. In 2018, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi commented on the figures presented by the Emilia-Romagna Regional Education Office: in Bologna, classes granted an exemption (where the 30 per cent cap on foreign pupils set by the Gelmini circular could be exceeded) accounted for 13.5 per cent of the total.  “This is not right; the formation of monocultural groups is harmful,” said the then director, Stefano Versari. Cardinal Zuppi commented: “These children are the Italians of the future. We must avoid this concentration because it risks leading to isolation rather than integration. Schools must educate, not merely instruct”, and such a concentration would make achieving that objective “much more difficult”. This is self-evident and obvious to anyone who has ever entered a classroom with many pupils who are not yet fluent in Italian. We need to put things into context, not generalise.

State-recognised schools have taken a similar stance in a joint statement issued by Agesc, Ciofs Scuola, Fidae and the Jesuit Education Foundation: “School must be a place where no one is excluded and where everyone can feel welcomed, recognised and supported. In light of the measures announced by the government regarding the presence of foreign pupils in classrooms, we believe it is essential to start with one word: inclusion. Any situations of significant imbalance in class composition must be addressed with common sense, without turning an organisational and educational problem into a criterion for exclusion. It is not a pupil’s nationality that determines the challenges faced by a class. We must take into account knowledge of the Italian language, the educational needs of children and young people, the social and local context, and the conditions under which individual schools operate”. Here too, it is essential to consider the context, given that “inclusion is not achieved through automatic mechanisms or percentages applied indiscriminately. It requires the involvement of schools, families, local authorities and local communities, together with adequate investment in cultural mediation, Italian language teaching, teacher training and support for organisations operating in the most challenging areas”. For this reason too, the associations write, “our schools are willing to welcome a greater number of children and young people, thereby also contributing to a more balanced distribution of pupils and providing concrete support for integration processes. But this willingness must be accompanied by conditions that genuinely enable all families to choose a state-recognised private school, regardless of income or background”. At the conclusion of the Permanent Council of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), the Secretary-General, Monsignor Giuseppe Baturi, said that “the school is called to be the very best that society has to offer: a place of encounter, of passion for the truth, of self-knowledge and of the ability to take on one’s own responsibility towards the world. For this reason, it cannot but be inclusive”.