Meloni's School Measures Pass Cabinet, and Emilia-Romagna Counts Its Classrooms

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

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, which covers Italy for an English-speaking readership, asked what is really driving the clampdown, noting the pledges were made over the weekend before reaching cabinet.

The two provisions are not equivalent in scope. The face-covering ban is a prohibition; the classroom cap is a quota, and its practical effect depends entirely on how the ceiling is set and whether it is applied per school, per class or across a municipality. None of the foreign coverage states the figure.