Italy Moves to Cap Foreign Pupils in Class, and the Interior Does Its Sums

The Italian government has agreed on measures to ban the burqa and the niqab in schools and to cap the number of foreign pupils in each class, the BBC reported on Thursday. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni described the package as "common-sense tools that do not divide but really help to integrate", according to the BBC.

The New York Times reported that Meloni said the goal was to better integrate children who do not speak Italian, while critics accused her of trying to appease anti-immigrant sentiment. The Local Italy, reporting on the same announcement, asked what was really driving the clampdown, noting the pledge had been made over the weekend before ministers formalised it.

No text of the measure has been published in the foreign coverage, and none of the outlets reporting it state how the classroom cap would be calculated, whether it would apply to children born in Italy to foreign parents, or when it would take effect. Those are the questions the coverage leaves open.