Meloni wages war on burqas, foreign student caps to protect Italian identity

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is preparing to ban face coverings in schools and cap the number of foreign students per class in a bid to protect Italian culture.

She unveiled the proposals at a youth event held by her right-wing Brothers of Italy party on Sunday.

“A measure will soon be presented to a Cabinet meeting to legally establish a maximum number of foreign students per class,” Meloni said.

“It also requires parents of foreign students facing serious difficulties integrating into the school system to learn Italian and bans burqas and niqabs in schools.”

On the face covering ban, she was blunt: “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.”

Meloni argued the measures were about protecting integration, not blocking it.

“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.”

She did not specify what the cap on foreign students would be.

Non-Italian students currently make up 11.6% of those enrolled in Italian schools, according to research institution Fondazione ISMU.

The proposal has already won support beyond Italy’s borders.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said he “completely agreed” with Meloni, adding: “Under a Reform UK Government, all face coverings will be banned. No ifs, no buts. This is Britain, we show our faces.”

Italy would not be the first European country to take such a step.

France introduced a full ban on face coverings in 2011, while Austria, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland have all imposed bans of their own in the years since.

The European Court of Human Rights has upheld such laws, backing Belgium’s ban in 2017 and ruling that states may restrict veils to protect “living together” in society.