A maximum ceiling of foreign students in school classes: the Ministry of Education and Merit is working on an ad hoc law. A path, already indicated by the minister Giuseppe Valditara, which starts from the need to integrate foreign children who have very high school dropout rates. A very delicate topic that has been open for years.
School closed for Ramadan, Colle takes sides. Mattarella writes to teachers: «I appreciate your work»
THE DEBATE
The controversies that hit the Iqbal Masih institute in Pioltello, near Milan, after the decision to suspend lessons on April 10th to coincide with the end of Ramadan do not seem unrelated to the initiative. The school’s decision, approved by the school board, was taken to accommodate students of Muslim origin who, in the Pioltello school, represent 40% of the students enrolled. The Minister for Infrastructure Matteo Salvini also intervened in the case and, in an interview with Porta a Porta, launched the proposal to set a limit on the presence of non-Italian students: «We need a ceiling for foreign students – declared Salvini – the 20% per class.”
And he added: «If you have many children who speak different languages and don’t speak Italian, it’s chaos. The presence of children must be checked. 20% of foreign children in a class is also stimulating but when Italians are 20% of the children in the class, how can a teacher explain?”. And so yesterday the Minister for Education and Merit, Giuseppe Valditara, returned to the topic, highlighting the critical issues and the need for real integration in schools: «If it is agreed that foreigners assimilate on the values fundamentals written into the Constitution – he explained in a post – this will happen more easily if the majority of the classes are Italians, if they study Italian more intensively where they don’t already know it well, if history, literature and literature are taught in depth in the schools. , art, Italian music, if the parents will also be involved in learning the Italian language and culture and if they will not live in separate communities. It is in this direction that we intend to move.”
THE RULES
The work has already started. Valditara is in fact determined to move forward in this direction with a law, therefore binding for all schools, which will indicate the most appropriate maximum limit for classes. It is not yet decided therefore for 20%. The Valditara road is also contained in his book “The school of talents” in which the minister, with data in hand, highlights how the school dropout rate among non-Italian students is 30% compared to 9% of Italian students. Valditara himself, in recent days, has proposed supporting the studies of foreign children, who at the beginning of the school year show significant deficiencies in their knowledge of the Italian language, in tutoring classes or with compulsory extracurricular language strengthening afternoon courses. The issue is an old one, therefore, and for Valditara it concerns kids who don’t speak Italian. The case of Pioltello is another matter, on which the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella also expressed his opinion and was addressed by the vice-principal Maria Rendani, inviting him to visit the school: «I received and read your letter carefully and, in thank you – added President Mattarella – I would like to tell you that I greatly appreciated you as well as, beyond the single episode, which was actually of modest importance, I appreciate the work that the teaching staff and the institute bodies carry out in fulfilling a precious and particularly demanding task.”
PREVIOUS
In fact, the issue of the cap on the presence of foreigners in classrooms is a topic that has been discussed for years and which mainly affects specific areas of the country. It was 2010 when, after the case of the Carlo Pisacane school in Rome where the presence of non-Italian pupils far exceeded that of Italians, the then education minister Mariastella Gelmini issued circular number 2 of 8 January, with which set the maximum presence of foreign students in elementary, middle and high school classes at 30%. However, the regional school offices could and can derogate from that ceiling based on the actual linguistic skills of individual pupils. Not only that, in many cases the presence of foreigners simply reflects that of residents of the area in which the school is located therefore, numbers in hand, the percentage quota is not easy to apply. In fact, the Pioltello school is only one of the many places in which the presence of foreign students is notable: the whole of Lombardy represents the geographical area in which the greatest presence of students with non-Italian citizenship is recorded. Suffice it to say that it has over 25% of foreign students from all over Italy. Following, among the regions with the highest percentages, are Emilia Romagna, Veneto and Piedmont. In fact, these are the regions with the highest rate of immigration, linked above all to the greater possibility of finding work.
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