Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced on Sunday that her government will shortly table a measure placing a legal maximum on the number of foreign pupils in each Italian classroom, banning the burqa and niqab in schools, and requiring parents of foreign students with serious integration difficulties to learn Italian. Speaking to a standing ovation at the Gioventù Nazionale festival of her Brothers of Italy party’s youth wing, the prime minister presented the package as a matter of basic fairness and effective integration.
“If there is only one child in a class who doesn’t understand Italian, that child will likely be able to learn the language and integrate quickly with the help of classmates and teachers,” she said. “However, if the number of children who don’t understand the language becomes large – or even the majority – that is no longer integration; it is neglect.” On face coverings she was equally clear: “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.” Gender equality, she added, “is non-negotiable.” The hijab was not mentioned. Once cleared by the cabinet, the legislation would need parliamentary approval within 60 days.
Foreign pupils currently make up about 11.6 per cent of Italy’s school population—roughly 930,000 children from nursery to secondary level, according to the Fondazione ISMU. Two-thirds were born in Italy. The highest concentrations are in the industrial north, where some classes already exceed 20 per cent first-generation foreign pupils. Language gaps, higher rates of academic delay and early school-leaving among non-Italian citizens are long-standing, documented challenges. A 2010 ministerial circular under then-education minister Mariastella Gelmini recommended a 30 per cent ceiling that was never systematically enforced because of local demographics and logistical constraints. Meloni’s proposal seeks to turn a soft guideline into binding law.
The announcement fits Meloni’s consistent record on migration and cultural identity. From opposition she warned of “ethnic substitution” and demanded cultural compatibility. In government she has paired external border controls and EU deals with periodic identity-focused initiatives. In October 2025 her party tabled a wider bill to ban face coverings in public spaces and tighten oversight of Islamic organisations, framing it as a fight against “cultural separatism.” The school measures extend that logic into the classroom.
Politically the timing is telling. Meloni’s centre-right coalition recently became Italy’s longest-serving uninterrupted government since the Second World War. Brothers of Italy remains the largest single party at around 26–27 per cent in recent polls, but support has softened from earlier peaks near 30 per cent. A newer hard-right force, Roberto Vannacci’s Futuro Nazionale, has risen to 7–8 per cent and is drawing votes from the governing right. Personal approval ratings for Meloni sit in the low-to-mid 40s. With a general election due by 2027, the government has been rolling out voter-friendly measures such as property-tax relief on small cars. The schools package simultaneously addresses real classroom pressures and signals to conservative voters that Meloni has not drifted too far from core identity themes. Vannacci himself welcomed the proposals but said they “should have arrived years ago.”
Opposition parties reacted swiftly and critically. Democratic Party leader Elly Schlein told Meloni to “put an end to her failures” and to declare when elections will be held, while rejecting the prime minister’s claim of increased university funding. Irene Manzi, the PD’s national education chief, said announcing class limits, family obligations and dress codes from a party stage “has nothing to do with education and everything to do with courting the far right, starting with Vannacci.” Inclusion, she argued, is built with resources, not barriers.
The Green-Left Alliance (AVS) was equally sharp. MP Elisabetta Piccolotti noted that a 30 per cent limit already exists in the Gelmini circular and accused Meloni of “nonsensical announcements” designed to catch up with Vannacci. Co-spokesperson Angelo Bonelli charged that the prime minister was again “chasing the neo-fascist right” rather than addressing low teacher salaries or the practical functioning of schools. Headteachers’ association ANP president Antonello Giannelli offered a more measured technical critique: the educational rationale is “founded and shareable,” but implementation is difficult because primary and nursery schools must primarily serve local neighbourhood children. If a district already has a foreign majority, “what do we do—send the pupils away?”
Whether the legislation will ease integration difficulties or mainly mobilise the base remains an open question. Defining “foreign,” setting the precise ceiling, and distinguishing children born in Italy from recent arrivals will test administrative capacity. Critics see a divisive electoral gambit; supporters see overdue realism about language, culture and classroom dynamics. Meloni, who has moved from nationalist outsider to an established European figure, continues to demonstrate an ability to pivot back to identity politics when the electoral calendar and competition on her right demand it. The classroom bill is the latest chapter in that balancing act.
