Maneuver: Uil, 'school cuts weaken the country, they must be cancelled'

Almost 7 thousand fewer positions among teachers and ATA staff from the next school year. An unacceptable choice, which risks weakening state schools and the quality of education. We ask the government and Parliament to delete these cuts from the text of the budget. The birth rate decline cannot become a pretext for reducing staff.

This was declared jointly by PierPaolo Bombardieri, general secretary of Uil, and Giuseppe D'Aprile, general secretary of Uil Scuola, regarding the provisions of the budget bill.

In detail, they explain in a note, the provision provides for a reduction of 4,925 teaching positions and 2,049 ATA positions from 2027/28, in addition to the cuts already made: 5,660 teachers from 2025/26 and 2,174 ATA from 2026/27. If confirmed, the new reductions would bring the total number of places cut in three school years to 14,808. "The decline in enrollments should represent an opportunity to reduce the number of students per class and improve the quality of teaching. Instead, we continue to intervene on the staff, worsening the difficulties of a system already marked by precarious employment", explain the trade unionists.

"Furthermore, - they continue - further reducing the ATA staff means increasing their workload and making supervision, assistance and administrative management activities difficult. In internal areas these cuts risk accentuating inequalities and depopulation". Hence the appeal: "We ask to eliminate the cuts envisaged by the budget, allocate additional resources for contract renewals and also extend the tax relief on contractual increases to all public employees. Investing in education means investing in the future of the country", conclude Bombardieri and D'Aprile.