Italy Bans Face Coverings In Schools And Caps Foreign Pupils

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has declared that Italy is moving fast to ban face coverings like burqas and niqabs inside schools. Her hard-right government also plans to cap how many foreign pupils sit in any single classroom. She told an annual gathering of the youth wing for her Brothers of Italy party on Sunday that a formal measure will soon go before a Cabinet meeting to set these limits legally.

Meloni argued that one child who does not speak Italian can learn quickly with help from teachers and classmates. But she says things change when many children in a class lack the language skills. In those cases, she claims it stops being integration and becomes neglect instead. She insists parents of foreign students struggling to adapt must learn Italian before their kids return to school.

'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,' Meloni added during her speech. '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.'

She did not reveal the exact number of foreign students allowed per class yet. However data from Fondazione ISMU shows non-citizen students make up 11.6 percent of all enrolled pupils. That is nearly 12 out of every 100 kids in Italian classrooms right now.

Italy sits at a central Mediterranean spot which exposes it heavily to migrant arrivals each year. This makes migration a burning issue for governments that follow one another. Debates over religious symbols and citizenship rules frequently split public opinion sharply across the nation. The National Future party, standing outside Meloni's coalition but further to the right, called for this crackdown back in July.

While no current law expressly bans burqas in schools or public spaces, a 1975 rule prohibits garments that hide identity without good reason. A full-face veil was allowed for religious reasons as long as someone could verify your identity later. That ruling came from Italy's highest administrative court way back in 2008.

The anti-immigrant League party, which is part of Meloni's current government coalition, submitted a bill to the Senate earlier this year. It would restrict helmets and heavy clothing except at sports events or places of worship. Austria also rolled out a similar ban on Islamic headscarves recently for girls under 14 in its schools. Its ruling coalition passed that legislation last December with support from the far-right Freedom Party there.

The situation remains tense as Meloni's team pushes forward these new restrictions quickly.

Only the Greens, the tiniest faction in parliament, stood against it. The Islamic Religious Community in Austria (IGGO), which officially speaks for Muslims there, declared the move an assault on basic rights and promised a fight at the Constitutional Court. That court rejected similar challenges back in July simply because the new laws had not yet taken effect to trigger them.

Last month, Portugal joined the fray by banning full-face veils under a so-called 'burqa law.' The government insists this step protects 'human identity.' President Antonio Jose Seguro signed off on the measure driven by far-right forces. He told the world that "The face must be considered a central element of human identity and communication." Local media dubbed it the 'burqa law' after the specific garment some Muslim women use to cover their bodies and faces.

Parliament voted for the final text in July. The right-wing governing coalition and far-right groups backed it, while left-wing parties cast opposing votes. This new rule forbids wearing clothing meant to hide the face or stop identification anywhere in public. It also bars any pressure forcing someone to cover up due to gender, religion, age, or origin. Rights campaigners have long argued that these bans chip away at women's rights by dictating what they wear.