Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced on Sept. 20 that her government will introduce legislation capping the number of foreign students allowed in individual classrooms and banning face-covering garments, including burqas and niqabs, in Italian schools.
Meloni unveiled the plan in a speech to Gioventù Nazionale, the youth wing of her Brothers of Italy party, in Rome. She framed the measures as necessary to protect integration and preserve Italian cultural identity.
“There’s no way that in an Italian classroom, the ones who feel marginalized are Italian children because they have become a minority,” Meloni said.
The proposal would set limits on the number of non-Italian students permitted in any one classroom, intended to prevent heavy concentrations of foreign pupils in particular districts. Meloni did not specify what the cap would be.
The plan also includes a requirement that parents of foreign students who are struggling to integrate take mandatory Italian-language classes.
“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,” Meloni said, according to The Associated Press. “It is the only serious way to welcome them.”
Non-Italian citizens make up roughly 11.6% of school enrollment nationwide, according to Italy’s Education Ministry, as cited by the ISMU ETS Foundation. Under Italian law, children born to foreign parents do not automatically receive citizenship and must wait until age 18 to apply.
Meloni argued that classrooms with large numbers of non-native Italian speakers hinder learning for all students.
“If in a classroom there is only one child who doesn’t understand Italian, it is possible that that child will manage, with the help of his peers and teachers, to learn the language and integrate fast,” she said. “But if these children are many, or even the majority, that’s not integration anymore, that’s abandonment.”
Face-Covering Ban
The legislative package would also prohibit burqas and niqabs in schools, while continuing to permit other Islamic dress such as the hijab. The Brothers of Italy party reinforced the message in a series of posts on X.
“Those who choose to build their future in Italy must learn our language, know our culture, and respect our rules,” the party wrote. “School is attended with one’s face uncovered. No tradition can impose on a young woman the obligation to hide herself.”
A separate post summarized the package: “Limit on the number of foreign students in classrooms, obligation for parents of pupils with serious integration difficulties to learn Italian, and ban on burqas and niqabs in educational institutions. Integration comes through knowledge of our language, respect for our rules, and protection of our cultural identity.”
France and Belgium have previously enacted bans on face coverings in public spaces, though the legal frameworks and enforcement mechanisms vary by country.
What Comes Next
The proposed legislation is expected to go before Italy’s Council of Ministers before being sent to Parliament for consideration.
Meloni has led Brothers of Italy since 2014 and served as president of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party from 2020 to 2025. She has governed Italy since 2022, and her administration recently became the longest-serving uninterrupted government in modern Italian history, surpassing records previously held by Silvio Berlusconi.
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