'Respect Our Rules': Italy's Giorgia Meloni Plans To Ban Burqas and Niqabs in Schools and Cap Foreign Pupils per Class

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has announced plans to ban burqas and niqabs in schools, cap the number of foreign pupils per class and make Italian lessons compulsory for some migrant parents, declaring that anyone who wants to build a future in the country must 'respect our rules'.

She set out the package in Rome on Sunday, saying language lessons would be mandatory for parents of foreign pupils facing 'serious difficulties integrating into the school system', alongside a proposed limit on the proportion of foreign children in each classroom.

What Meloni's Plan Covers

Addressing the Gioventù Nazionale national festival, organised by the youth wing of her Brothers of Italy party, Meloni presented the measures as requirements for integration.

'For us, anyone who comes to Italy and wants to build their future here must learn our language, understand our culture, and respect our rules,' she said, receiving a standing ovation. 'It is the only serious way to welcome them.'

The proposed clothing restrictions concern two coverings worn by some Muslim women. A burqa covers the body and includes mesh over the eyes, while a niqab covers the face and leaves the eyes visible.

Meloni did not mention the hijab, which covers the hair and neck but leaves the face uncovered. She also argued that Italian children should not become a minority in classrooms.

'It is unacceptable that in an Italian classroom the children who end up feeling pushed into a corner are Italian children because they have become the minority. That cannot be allowed,' she said.

Italy already has a 30 per cent guideline for pupils with non-Italian citizenship under a 2010 ministerial circular issued when Mariastella Gelmini was education minister. The threshold allows derogations and has not been consistently applied.

Constitutional Questions for Meloni

The latest proposals follow an initiative in early August by Education and Merit Minister Giuseppe Valditara, who proposed restricting the full-face veil through an amendment to the security bill.

In late July, Futuro Nazionale promoted a broader school resolution that included measures concerning face-covering garments such as the burqa. The Chamber of Deputies' Culture Committee approved it with centre-right votes after changes requested by the Education Ministry.

The League separately introduced a Senate bill in March to amend Article 5 of the 1975 Reale law. It would create an offence of forcing someone to conceal their face and bar those convicted from obtaining Italian citizenship.

Roberto Vannacci, leader of Futuro Nazionale, has backed Meloni's proposal while calling for tougher migration policies. Angelo Bonelli, an MP for the Green and Left Alliance, accused Meloni of neglecting schools while pursuing the positions of Vannacci and AfD.

Salvatore Curreri, a constitutional law professor at the University of Enna, told ANSA that Article 34 of Italy's constitution states that 'school is open to everyone', including foreign children.

'If the measure were so restrictive as to uproot minors and their families to other areas, far from where they live, it could prove excessive precisely because it conflicts with the overriding functional aim of integration, with the risk of infringing a right recognised by the constitution,' Curreri said.

Meloni said the package would go before her cabinet soon. It would then require parliamentary approval to become law.