Burqa Ban, Hijab Restrictions, Foreign Student Caps: How Italy's Giorgia Meloni Plans Stricter School Laws

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has announced plans to introduce stricter rules in schools covering religious face coverings, the number of foreign students in classrooms and Italian-language requirements for some parents of foreign children. Meloni announced the proposals on Sunday during a gathering of the youth wing of her Brothers of Italy party in Rome. The measures are expected to be presented to Italys Council of Ministers before being taken up through the countrys parliamentary process. A key part of the proposed package would introduce a legal limit on the number of foreign students who can be placed in the same classroom. Meloni said the move is intended to support integration and ensure that schools can effectively teach students who may have limited knowledge of the Italian language.

Italy already has rules that generally seek to limit the proportion of students without Italian citizenship in individual classes to 30%. However, the existing framework has proved difficult to apply consistently, particularly in areas where immigrant communities are heavily concentrated. The government has not yet announced the exact limit that would be included in the new legislation. Meloni also said the government intends to introduce restrictions on full-face coverings in schools. The proposal specifically concerns garments such as the burqa and niqab, which cover most or all of the face. The government argues that students should be identifiable while attending school.

There has been some variation in reporting over whether the proposed measure would also include the hijab. The hijab covers the hair but leaves the face visible. Reuters and Associated Press reports have focused on the proposed restrictions on burqas and niqabs, while Italys ANSA news agency reported that Meloni also referred to the hijab. The precise scope of the measure is expected to become clearer when the government publishes the formal legislation. The planned school reforms also include a language component. Meloni said some parents of foreign students could be required to learn Italian, particularly in cases where their children are experiencing serious difficulties integrating into the school system.

The government has presented Italian-language knowledge as an important part of integration, arguing that communication between families, teachers and students is essential for children to participate effectively in education and wider society. According to figures cited by Reuters from Fondazione ISMU, students without Italian citizenship account for around 11.6% of school enrolments in Italy. However, citizenship does not necessarily indicate whether a student is a recent arrival or has difficulty speaking Italian. Some students without Italian citizenship may have been born or raised in Italy and may speak the language fluently.

This distinction could become significant if the proposed classroom limits are ultimately based on nationality rather than language ability or length of residence. The proposals come as Melonis government continues to place immigration and integration among its major domestic policy issues. The new school measures would bring those issues directly into questions surrounding classroom composition, language education and religious clothing. The proposals are not yet law. They will need to be formally approved by the Italian government and go through Parliament before becoming legally binding. Further details, including the precise limit on foreign students, possible exemptions and the enforcement of the proposed clothing restrictions, are expected when the legislation is formally presented. The announcement represents the governments proposed direction for school policy rather than a set of rules already in force across Italy.

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