A Classroom Cap, and Schools That Were Already Empty

The Italian government has approved a decree law capping the number of pupils with a poor command of Italian in each class and banning the burqa and niqab in schools, according to the BBC and Deutsche Welle. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni described the measures as "common-sense tools that do not divide but really help to integrate", the BBC reported.

The Guardian reported that critics accuse the government of "running scared" and of ramping up divisive rhetoric to court far-right voters before next year's general election. The New York Times said the stated goal was better integration of non-Italian-speaking children, while critics saw an attempt to appease anti-immigrant sentiment. Politico Europe, covering Pope Leo XIV's visit to France, noted that Marine Le Pen has revived a proposed headscarf ban there — the same argument travelling in the opposite direction.

The decree is written for classrooms under pressure. In much of the interior it will meet classrooms under a different pressure: closure. Molise has for years been the country's clearest case of a region losing its school-age population, and the foreign coverage of Italy's demographic decline has returned to that arithmetic repeatedly.