Varese, aged 5 dressed as soldiers and visiting the NATO base: controversy over the nursery school that “makes children’s dreams come true”

Five-year-old children dressed as soldiers aboard fake cardboard tanks. Others intent on some sort of training. And then again with their images hanging on the wall like mug shots and finally the visit to the NATO Base in Solbiate Olona among real vehicles used by the soldiers. It is the “Giornate […]

Children of five years dressed as soldiers aboard fakes tanks of cardboard. Others intent on some sort of training. And then again with their images hanging on the wall like mug shots and finally the visit to the NATO Base in Solbiate Olona among real vehicles used by the soldiers. It is the “Special Days” project organized by the private Catholic nursery school of Fagnano Olona which every year makes the dreams of older children come true.

Does anyone want to be an astronaut when they grow up? And the teachers make sure they have this experience. The same goes for the dancer, for the footballer. This year someone imagined wearing the uniform. The teachers themselves wrote it in a post on the school’s Facebook page which was later removed: “The military world always fascinates children: standing up as defenders of the homeland was the dream of Marco, Riccardo, Diego and Ricky. We have thus transformed our school into a base for military training, trench battles and a field hospital with the best nurses! Their special day was unforgettable thanks to the commitment of the teachers who with their creativity allowed our children to live a dream.”

All before going to Solbiate Olona where, through the guidance of the father of a little girl from the school, “they were able to explore – says the post – the places where the military trains and works; they learned about the military vehicles used in the missions, following with curiosity and attention.”

An initiative that was not liked by the Observatory against the militarization of schools and universities in the province of Varese which denounces: “Indoctrinating children in the disvalues ​​of war which tend towards violence and oppression, in addition to being worrying and disturbing, should horrify and be a nightmare for teachers and parents. But evidently it is not for these teachers and for their director who are committed to directing their young students towards a subculture that leads to a militaristic drift, which we know what disastrous consequences it has on the populations that suffer the wars that NATO dispenses in full hands wherever he has interests to defend. They want to inculcate at all costs the charm of the military uniform and the role of the person who wears it in the children of this kindergarten.”

A version of events – the one narrated by the Observatory – which does not reflect the intentions of the school director, Valentina Muscas, which announces possible complaints to those who have offended his work. Muscas takes no step back and says to IlFattoquotidiano.it: “We need to contextualize what happened. Our school carries out an initiative which is to make the most disparate dreams of children come true. We have always done it and everyone recognizes the pedagogical value of our event. I’m sorry that we stopped to look only at the military question: we are attacked by people seeking visibility to which we do not intend to give weight. We are a Catholic school and we abhor all forms of violence and war. On our special day we were able to learn about the work of the military who carry out essential peacekeeping missions. Our work with children has clearly been exploited.”