Overview
- The government circulated a draft decree to the Council of Ministers on Thursday, September 24, 2026, that would set a 30% limit on non‑Italian‑citizen or non‑italophone pupils in first‑year classes starting in the 2027/2028 school year.
- The draft defines who counts toward the cap by birthplace and prior schooling and orders territorial school offices and headteachers to redistribute pupils among nearby schools when the limit cannot be met.
- The text creates a dedicated fund for Italian‑language support with €3.4 million in 2027 and €14.1 million annually from 2028 to strengthen Italian teaching in affected schools.
- Schools must report parents with persistent language barriers to social services, the draft mandates free Italian courses for those parents and it contemplates placing a child outside the family if a court‑ordered support plan is refused, with medical or certified learning‑disability exemptions.
- The decree also bans face coverings in school activities with fines of €200–€1,000 applied to parents when minors violate the rule and proposes curricular changes such as an optional extra hour of Latin and renaming technical and professional institutes; critics warn of legal, practical and discrimination risks while some parent groups back the move and stakeholders point to teacher shortfalls and the earlier non‑binding 2010 guidance as context.