Meloni announces legal cap on foreign students and ban on religious veils in Italian schools

Proposed classroom reforms

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced that the Council of Ministers will soon examine a legislative package altering regulations across Italian classrooms. The forthcoming measure introduces a statutory cap on the maximum number of foreign students permitted in any individual class. In cases where foreign pupils experience severe integration difficulties, the government plans to impose a legal obligation on their parents to learn the Italian language. The draft law also institutes an explicit ban on Islamic religious veils, specifically the burqa and hijab, inside educational institutions. Meloni argued that the regulations aim to ensure classroom cohesion and prevent Italian pupils from becoming a minority in their own schools.

In school you go with an uncovered face, and in Italy no one, in the name of a true or presumed tradition, can decide that a young woman must hide herself.

Reclassification of technical institutes

The legislative package also addresses the structural status of secondary education pathways in Italy. Meloni announced that technical and professional institutes will formally receive the designation of "liceo". The Italian government intends to equalize the institutional status of vocational programs with traditional academic high schools, framing the title change as recognition of equal educational worth. Meloni stated that the nomenclature update affirms that students who choose technical and vocational tracks possess the same value as those attending traditional academic institutes. The government plans to submit the decree to ministers alongside the classroom integration rules.

Critique of educational standards since 1968

In her remarks on pedagogy, Meloni presented a critique of post-1968 educational policies in the Italian public school system. She maintained that decades of progressive leniency discouraged teachers from delivering critical assessments or telling pupils that their work was incorrect. Meloni contended that students discover the cost of these lowered academic expectations years later when entering competitive job interviews. She argued that wealthier families avoided these educational gaps by funding private tutoring, specialized coursework, and language trips abroad, leaving poorer students who depend on state education to shoulder the burden.

For decades, due to a certain false leniency, Italian schools were afraid to tell the truth. It was forbidden to say you were wrong, forbidden to say this is not fine, and so on. They tried to convince us that this was the fairest way to educate, calling it respect, but that is not education and is not respect, it is a lie.

Speech at the Fenix youth festival

Meloni delivered the speech on 20 September 2026 during the closing session of Fenix, the annual political kermesse organized by Gioventù Nazionale, the youth movement of her party, Fratelli d'Italia. The 2026 edition of the gathering took place at the Laghetto dell'Eur in Rome under the theme "Il tempo del coraggio". During her address to party activists, Meloni contrasted modern social pressure to cultivate superficial visibility with the dedication required to build enduring community bonds. She urged the youth movement to embrace public service and maintain collective discipline even outside the media spotlight. The address followed recent administration proposals to suspend payment of the Italian vehicle ownership tax for one year.

To appear is fast, to belong takes time and requires sacrifice. To appear is possible even alone, to belong definitely is not. To appear requires you to be seen, to belong requires you to be there, especially when the spotlights fade.