Italy to ban burkas in schools, with 30% cap on pupils with poor Italian

Italy has passed a decree banning face coverings in all schools and capping the proportion of newly arrived foreign pupils with insufficient Italian at 30 per cent per class from the next school year, the government in Rome said on Friday.

The government said the 30 per cent quota applies in primary school to children who do not hold Italian citizenship, were not born in Italy and have not attended an Italian kindergarten for at least two years.

In secondary schools the same rules apply, except that pupils must have attended Italian schools for at least three years – rather than two years of kindergarten – to fall outside the 30 per cent quota.

On face coverings, the decree states that these are not permitted and that the face must be recognisable. The measure is likely aimed primarily at full-face Islamic veils for girls such as the burka and niqab. No government figures were given on how many children the rule could affect.