Italian prime minister ties proposed face-covering restriction to broader integration drive, including classroom caps for non-citizen pupils
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has said her government will move to prohibit burqas and niqabs in schools, placing the proposed restriction within a wider package on migration, language learning and classroom integration.
Speaking at the Fenix youth festival organised by her Brothers of Italy party, Meloni said that no one in Italy should be able, in the name of a “real or supposed tradition”, to require a young woman to conceal her face. Reuters reported that she presented the planned measure as one intended to protect freedom and openness in the school environment.
The announcement concerns full-face coverings — specifically the burqa and niqab — and does not amount to a ban on the hijab, which leaves the face visible. Some early coverage blurred that distinction, but both Associated Press and Reuters described Meloni’s remarks as referring specifically to burqas and niqabs.
The proposed ban is not yet law. The government must first set out the legal text and secure parliamentary approval. Italy already has a 1975 public-order law that restricts disguises or face coverings without a justified reason, but its application to religious clothing has long been contested and has not created a clear nationwide school-specific prohibition.
Meloni coupled the announcement with a plan to cap the number of foreign students in individual classes and to require Italian-language tuition for parents of pupils judged to be struggling with integration. She argued that integration becomes “neglect” when too many children who do not speak Italian are concentrated in the same classroom.
The government has not specified the proposed cap. According to Reuters, non-Italian citizens account for about 11.6% of pupils in Italy’s schools. A non-binding 30% ceiling for pupils without Italian citizenship has existed in policy guidance for years, but has been difficult to apply in areas with high migrant populations. El País reported that education officials face practical obstacles in enforcing any strict numerical limit, particularly in areas with large migrant populations.
The initiative is likely to sharpen a familiar European argument: whether rules on face coverings advance women’s autonomy and social integration, as Meloni maintains, or place a disproportionate burden on a small religious minority. It also brings migration and cultural identity back to the centre of Italian political debate.
Photo: AI-generated illustration.