Italy Panel Backs Limits on Sex Education, Banning It in Lower Grades and Requiring Parental Consent in High Schools

Overview

• The Culture Committee of the Chamber approved a Lega amendment by Giorgia Latini that bars classroom activities on sexuality in preschool, primary and lower secondary schools, and permits upper secondary instruction only with parental consent and prior access to materials.
• The measure is not yet law, and Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara defends it by emphasizing biology-focused teaching in curricula and saying informed parental consent protects minors from complex topics such as gender identity.
• Valditara cites the ministry’s Educare alle relazioni program, reporting that 87% of surveyed schools started it and that nearly 70% observed improved student behavior.
• National psychologists, pedagogues, NGOs including Save the Children, and opposition parties label the amendment dangerous and regressive, and civic groups have launched petitions such as Conoscere per rispettare.
• UNESCO and health bodies recommend comprehensive, age-appropriate sexuality education from early years and many European countries mandate it, while Italy remains among seven without mandatory programs and surveys show 38.8% of Italian youth have never had sex education at school.