Italy PM Proposes Classroom Foreign Student Cap and Burqa, Niqab Ban in Schools

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Sept. 20 that her government plans to introduce legislation limiting the number of foreign students in Italian classrooms and prohibiting face-covering garments, including burqas and niqabs, in schools.

The conservative prime minister said the measures are intended to promote integration, protect Italy’s cultural identity and ensure Italian children do not feel marginalized in their own classrooms.

“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 in Rome during a speech to Gioventù Nazionale, the youth organization of her conservative Brothers of Italy party, according to reports.

The proposed legislation would set limits on the number of non-Italian students in individual classrooms, with the goal of preventing large concentrations in particular schools and districts.

Meloni did not announce a specific quota. She said, however, that the plan would require parents of foreign students facing serious integration challenges to attend 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.”

People without Italian citizenship make up approximately 11.6% of students enrolled in schools nationwide, according to figures from Italy’s Education Ministry cited by the ISMU ETS Foundation.

Italian law also does not automatically grant citizenship at birth to children born to foreign parents. Those children must wait until they turn 18 to apply.

Meloni said classrooms with high numbers of students who do not speak Italian as their first language can affect the educational experience and learning progress of 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.”

The proposed package would also address religious clothing in schools. It would ban burqas and niqabs, which cover the face, while allowing other forms of Islamic dress, including the hijab.

In a series of posts on X on Monday, the Brothers of Italy party echoed Meloni’s position:

“Those who choose to build their future in Italy must learn our language, know our culture, and respect our rules.

“School is attended with one’s face uncovered. No tradition can impose on a young woman the obligation to hide herself.”

A later post summarized the proposed measures as follows: “A limit on the number of foreign students in classrooms, an obligation for parents of pupils with serious integration difficulties to learn Italian, and a 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.”

Several European neighbors, including France and Belgium, have previously imposed bans on face-coverings in public places, though enforcement and legal frameworks differ.

The proposed Italian legislation is expected to be considered by Italy’s Council of Ministers before being sent to Parliament for consideration.

Meloni, who has led Brothers of Italy since 2014 and served as president of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party from 2020 to 2025, has governed Italy since 2022.

Her administration recently surpassed previous records set by Silvio Berlusconi to become the longest-serving uninterrupted government in modern Italian history.