Italy to Cap Foreign Pupils and Ban Face Veils in Schools

Italy's ministers have agreed on measures to ban the burqa and 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 the same decision, noting that Meloni said the aim was to better integrate children who do not speak Italian, while critics accused her of trying to appease anti-immigrant sentiment. The Local Italy, covering the plan as it took shape earlier in the week, asked what was really driving the clampdown.

No implementing decree, timetable or classroom threshold has been published in the international coverage, so the practical reach of the cap remains unclear. What the foreign wires do agree on is the politics: a government framing integration as a numbers problem.