A School Decree, and Veneto's Classrooms Count the Change

The Italian government has adopted a decree law capping the number of pupils in each class with a poor command of Italian and banning burqas and niqabs in schools, according to the BBC, Deutsche Welle and the New York Times. The Guardian reported that critics accused Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of "running scared" and of courting far-right voters ahead of next year's general election. Meloni described the measures, in the BBC's account, as "common-sense tools that do not divide but really help to integrate".

The New York Times framed the move as an attempt to appease anti-immigrant sentiment, while the Guardian quoted critics who say the decree is less about pedagogy than about the ballot. The Local Italy noted that the cabinet adopted the package as a decree law, the faster instrument available to an executive that wants the measure in force before the political season turns.

What the foreign coverage does not do is explain how the rule lands in the Veneto, where schooling is administered regionally and where the foreign-born share of pupils is unevenly spread — heaviest in the belt around Treviso, Vicenza and Verona, thinner in the mountain provinces. The wire gives no Veneto figures, and none should be assumed.