Inspection of the Amaldi high school in Novi Ligure for a pro-Gaza demonstration

A demonstration for Gaza that would have been promoted through the school's electronic register noticeboard has put the Edoardo Amaldi high school in Novi Ligure under the spotlight. Thus an inspection was launched by the Piedmont School Office to ascertain what happened "and verify - explains the Minister of Education Giuseppe Valditara - the possible improper use of an institutional instrument of the school to summon students to demonstrations".

The inspection will serve to "punctually reconstruct the facts and ascertain the related responsibilities. And if the facts were confirmed - concludes the minister - there would be a serious violation of professional ethics".

The case was reported on social media by the influencer Luca Danieli and the Vannacciano MP Rossano Sasso immediately intervened, announcing a question and asking for an inspection from the owner of the department in Viale Trastevere. "The picture that emerges - observes Sasso - is desolate: the school, instead of stimulating critical consciences, recruits boys, all dressed in black, for a proPal procession". The initiative, organized by the Coordination for Palestine in various Italian cities, includes a procession for 10 October during which a large cloth will be carried with the names of the 18,457 Palestinian minors killed in the Gaza Strip. According to what was reported in the communication released by the institute, on the basis of the participations collected, the round trip from Novi Ligure to Alessandria would also have been organised. But the head teacher of the high school, Michele Maranzana, denies everything: "The event scheduled, during extra-curricular hours, is an initiative promoted independently by a large network of civil society and associations of a completely non-partisan nature."

And he adds that "the wording present in the internal communication relating to a 'train trip organized by the Institute' derives from an editorial imprecision in the text: it was exclusively an informal coordination and logistical support service offered by some teachers for students or staff who, in a completely personal capacity, had freely chosen to participate. The initiative never took the form of an educational outing or an official school trip". For his part, Minister Valditara recalls that "the constitutional school is the one that educates a critical spirit, pluralism and which rejects any form of indoctrination; the practice of indoctrination of students belongs only to totalitarian regimes".

But according to Elisabetta Piccolotti of Avs "there is now a suffocating climate in schools: teachers are afraid of any project and prefer to avoid any delicate topic for fear of inspections and letters from a minister who behaves like a guardian of orthodoxy". Even Azione, with Maria Pia Bucchioni, notes that "before sending the inspectors" it was necessary to consult the principal and above all respect school autonomy.