Rome (AFP) – Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s cabinet adopted a decree law Thursday banning burqas and niqabs in schools and capping the number of students with a poor command of Italian per class.
It introduces “A 30 percent cap on the number of students in a class who do not have an adequate command of Italian, more tools for learning our language, and a ban on the burqa and niqab in schools,” Meloni wrote on social media.
If a child seriously struggles to integrate at school, social services will be called and the parents will be obliged to attend free Italian lessons.
Failure to comply will be punished with a fine of up to 1,000 euros ($1,140).
Italy is a frontline country for migration and integration is a hot campaign issue ahead of next year’s general election.
Save the Children warned forcing children to change schools or enrol in a different institution from their peers simply because of their nationality or limited proficiency in Italian would “create ‘first-class’ and ‘second-class’ students”.
But Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara said “inadequate language proficiency… hinders educational progress”.
“Parental participation in their child’s educational path is fundamental for academic success”, he told journalists.
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Bodily autonomy is a fundamental right and catholics deny this
Banning one religion for controlling women but allowing another is hypocrisy, not whataboutism
Can you point to examples in Europe - apart from some Muslim-majority countries - where women are legally or socially required to cover their faces or hair?
I see Islam as more than simply a religion in the conventional sense: it is also a comprehensive legal and social doctrine. In my view, Christianity went through a historical process of separating religious belief from many aspects of civil law and political authority, whereas Islam developed differently.
Head coverings aren’t the only form of restricting bodily autonomy. I’m talking about abortion. Something which religious people, Muslim and Christian, push to actively ban.
Christianity did not go through this process. The people under Christianity went through the process of enforcing separation of religious belief and civil law. There are people in Ireland who are still alive and remember when the catholic Irish constitution stated explicitly that a woman’s role is in the house. Laws were created around this, including limiting the job opportunities of married women. The movement to lift this was pushed by all women, not just Christian women. Morocco also had laws restricting womens right to work, and women, including Muslim women, pushed to lift them.
All religions are comprehensive with their social doctrine. A key aspect of religion is telling people how to live and why. Different groups at different times have chosen whether or not to enforce their own lighter or harsher interpretations or misinterpretations of these doctrines on the people.