Overview

• Valditara’s decree, effective next academic year, will automatically fail any student who refuses to partake in the Maturità oral exam.
• The ministry will revert to the traditional “Maturità” designation, keep the two written tests intact, and redesign the oral portion to evaluate maturity, responsibility and independent reasoning.
• Gianmaria Favaretto, who boycotted the oral at Padua’s E. Fermi Institute but graduated on accumulated credits, condemned the policy as a refusal to engage in meaningful dialogue.
• Left-leaning scholars Nicola Ferrigni and Christian Raimo praised the students’ silent protest as a forceful call for reform, while conservative academics and school leaders insisted that those who break exam rules deserve failure.
• Recent INVALSI data revealing that roughly half of students fall below proficiency in Italian and mathematics have intensified discussions on systemic weaknesses in Italy’s education system.