Giorgia Meloni proposes foreign student cap and burqa ban in Italian schools

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced plans to limit foreign students in classrooms and ban burqas and niqabs in schools. The proposed measure also includes compulsory Italian language lessons for parents of foreign students facing integration difficulties

Rome:  Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Sunday that she would soon introduce a measure before her government that would cap the number of foreign students in classrooms and ban the wearing of burqas and niqabs in schools.

Meloni told the youth wing of her nationalist-conservative Brothers of Italy party that the measure would also make Italian language lessons compulsory for parents of foreign students facing “serious difficulties integrating into the school system.”

---

“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 said to a standing ovation at the Gioventù Nazionale national festival in Rome. “It is the only serious way to welcome them.”

Meloni specifically referred to a ban on the burqa, an all-covering dress worn by some Muslim women, and the niqab, a veil worn by the most conservative Muslim women, in which, at most, only the eyes are visible. However, Meloni did not mention the hijab, the headscarf worn by some Muslim women.

Once approved by the government, the measure would need parliamentary approval within 60 days to become law.

Meloni, who has political roots in the far right, has consistently taken a tough stance on migration. However, she has evolved politically during her tenure as prime minister, shifting from a nationalist outlier to an establishment figure among European Union politicians.

She is also keen to boost her popularity ahead of a general election next year and is introducing a string of policies aimed at achieving that goal, including an exemption from a widely criticised property tax on small and medium-sized cars and scooters.

Earlier this month, Meloni’s conservative administration became Italy’s longest-serving uninterrupted government since World War II.