Italy’s government is recasting schools as the front line in a wider argument over migration, identity and integration. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wants to limit the share of foreign pupils in classrooms and prohibit face-covering garments, while critics question whether both measures would solve educational problems—or deepen exclusion.

Meloni’s case rests on a perceived imbalance between integration and social separation. If language barriers affect only a small number of pupils, she argues, teachers and classmates can help. But when non-Italian speakers become a large share of a class, she said, “that’s not integration anymore, that’s abandonment.”¹ She also warned that Italian children should not become a minority in their own classrooms.

The proposed measures would reportedly cap foreign pupils at about 30 percent, require some parents to take Italian lessons and ban burqas and niqabs in schools. Conservative coverage presents the package as a defense of national cohesion, emphasizing Meloni’s claim that “no one” should decide that a young woman must hide her face in Italy.² A separate conservative report similarly frames the proposals as a combined ban on face veils and a classroom cap.³

The liberal perspective is less focused on the stated goal than on implementation and consequences. Students without Italian citizenship represent about 11.6 percent of enrollment nationally, although concentrations are higher in some neighborhoods. Sociologist Mariagrazia Santagati said Italian public schools are built on inclusion and are open to children “regardless of their juridical status and religion,” questioning how a rigid limit could work in practice.¹

Critics also argue that the face-veil proposal singles out a small Muslim minority while presenting cultural conformity as integration. Supporters counter that uncovered faces and Italian-language instruction are basic conditions for equality and participation. The measures now face cabinet and parliamentary approval, making them both a policy experiment and a clear electoral signal as Meloni competes for votes on the right.⁴