EditSchool decree: Italy caps non-Italian pupils at 30% and fines face coverings
PM Giorgia Meloni hails “tools that integrate without dividing”, centre-left accuses her of pandering to the hard right
The Italian government on Thursday approved a decree-law that places a 30 percent ceiling on certain non-Italian-speaking pupils in first-year classes of primary, middle and secondary schools, expands Italian-language support, and bans full-face coverings such as the burqa and niqab in school activities and family meetings.
The measures, which take effect immediately but require parliamentary ratification within 60 days, form the core of a schools package presented by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government as essential tools for integration rather than exclusion. Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara said the rules address linguistic barriers that undermine learning for everyone, noting that roughly 34,000 classes already exceed the 30 percent threshold and that implicit dropout rates stand at about 10 percent for foreign pupils compared with 5.7 percent for Italian ones.
Non-Italian citizens account for roughly 11.6 to 12 percent of the country’s school population, or more than 900,000 pupils according to recent figures from the Ministry of Education and the Fondazione ISMU research institute. A 2010 ministerial circular under then-Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini had already recommended a 30 percent limit “as a rule” on pupils without Italian citizenship, but it lacked full legal force and was unevenly applied. The new decree elevates the principle into binding law while refining its criteria around language proficiency and prior schooling rather than citizenship alone.
The decree applies the 30 percent ceiling starting with the 2027/28 school year when first-year classes are formed. In primary schools it covers pupils with non-Italian citizenship who were not born in Italy or who have not completed at least two years of preschool. In lower and upper secondary schools it applies to those with non-Italian citizenship who have not successfully attended the national education system for at least three years. Local school offices will redistribute pupils among nearby institutions when a school cannot stay under the limit, respecting proximity and family needs such as care for children with disabilities. Where redistribution proves impossible, exemptions will be granted and additional Italian-language teaching provided, backed by roughly 17.5 million euros in funding for language-enhancement courses or extra teachers.
Meloni described the package on social media as “common-sense tools that do not divide but really help to integrate,” arguing that it prevents “ghetto-like classrooms” and gives all students equal opportunities by ensuring no class becomes dominated by pupils who cannot follow instruction in Italian. Valditara has repeatedly stressed that the criterion is linguistic, not ethnic or national, and that the goal is balanced classes that improve outcomes for both native and foreign pupils.
Language support for families and the ban on face coverings
Beyond the classroom composition rules, the decree requires free Italian-language courses for parents when persistent language barriers on the part of those with parental responsibility hinder a child’s integration into the school system. Schools must report such cases to social services. Non-compliance can trigger administrative fines ranging from 200 to 1,000 euros. An earlier draft had floated more severe interventions, including possible removal of children from the family home, but that language was dropped; Valditara dismissed the circulated version as opposition disinformation.
The same fine range applies to anyone participating in curricular, extracurricular or school-family activities with the face covered in a way that prevents recognition, except for specific health or safety reasons. The ban targets the burqa and niqab but does not affect the hijab, which leaves the face visible. When a minor is involved, the fine falls on the parent. Meloni had previewed the face-covering rule days earlier, telling a youth gathering of her Brothers of Italy party that “you must go to school with your face uncovered” and that no one may decide, in the name of tradition, that a young woman must hide herself. Officials have framed the measure as both a matter of gender equality and basic security, consistent with existing public-order rules that already restrict full-face coverings in certain contexts.
Opposition parties immediately condemned the decree as political theatre. Democratic Party leader Elly Schlein called it “shameful,” arguing that Italian families are far more concerned about crumbling school buildings, textbook costs exceeding 500 euros, and teachers’ low salaries than about inventing new restrictions on foreign children. She accused the government of staging a “witch hunt” after years of under-investment. Other centre-left voices labelled the package pure propaganda timed for the 2027 general election and suggested it was designed to blunt competition from the further-right Futuro Nazionale party led by retired general Roberto Vannacci.
Valditara rejected the charge, saying the government was not chasing Vannacci but that, if anything, he was chasing the government.
The decree also contains secondary provisions, including the renaming of technical institutes as “technological high schools” and vocational institutes as “professional high schools,” and new funding for digital administrative services. These elements, however, have been overshadowed by the integration measures that dominate public debate. The package now moves to parliament, where its final shape and practical implementation will be tested against the demographic realities of Italian classrooms and the political pressures of an approaching election year.
Sources: ANSA, RAI, Il Fatto Quotidiano, Corriere della Sera
Caption: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni speaks during the annual national youth festival ‘Fenix, il tempo del coraggio,’ organized by Gioventu Nazionale, the youth movement of the political party Fratelli d’Italia, in Rome, Italy, 20 September 2026. EPA/MASSIMO PERCOSSI
Updated: September 25, 2026 - 10:20
