Meloni promises burqa and niqab ban in Italian schools
Italy's prime minister told her party's youth festival she will bring a government measure banning full-face veils in schools, capping foreign pupils per class and requiring Italian lessons for parents.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Sunday she will “soon” bring a measure to her government banning the burqa and niqab in schools, capping the number of foreign pupils per class, and making Italian lessons compulsory for the parents of foreign pupils with serious integration difficulties.
“For us, anyone who comes to Italy and wants to build their future here must learn our language, understand our culture, and respect our rules,” she told a standing ovation at the Fenix festival of Gioventù Nazionale, the youth wing of her Brothers of Italy party, the Associated Press reported.
She referred specifically to the burqa and niqab, not the hijab: “You must go to school with your face uncovered, and in Italy no one, in the name of a real or supposed tradition, can decide that a young woman must hide herself,” Reuters quoted her as saying.
She gave no maximum for the cap, arguing that when children who do not understand Italian become the majority in a class, “that is no longer integration; it is neglect”. Non-Italian-citizen pupils make up 11.6% of enrolment, according to Fondazione ISMU.
It is a proposal, not law: it needs government approval, then parliament’s within 60 days. Italy already has a 1975 law against garments that hinder identification without justified reason, though a 2008 ruling allows religious or cultural full-face coverings provided the face is revealed for identity checks, Al Jazeera reported. Far-right rival National Future, rising in polls since February, called in July for a school crackdown.
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