Foreign students cap, Meloni cites Mattarella. Il Colle does not comment, opposition to the attack

The Prime Minister claims the choice of the cap on the number of foreign students per class and brings up the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella: "As a minister he drew up circulars on the cap on foreigners in the classroom". Il Colle does not comment, opposition arises. The Minister of Education: "There is no clash with the Quirinale." The decree is expected in the Council of Ministers on Thursday

The debate continues on the measures announced by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni regarding schools and in particular the ceiling on the number of foreign students per class. The decree is expected in the Council of Ministers on Thursday and the details are being defined, but in the meantime the controversy does not stop. Meloni claimed responsibility for the choice of the roof and brought up the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella: "As a minister he drew up circulars on the roof of foreigners in the chamber", said the prime minister. Colle did not comment, while the opposition went on the attack. “There is no clash with the Quirinale,” assured the education minister Giuseppe Valditara. And he specified that the cap only applies to students who do not speak Italian.

Valditara: “No clash with the Quirinale”

Minister Valditara, from New York, explained that the cap for foreigners in classes also applies to European Union students who do not speak Italian. "If a Polish boy does not know Italian he cannot integrate. So the problem is not ethnic origin, national origin, racial origin. The problem is the knowledge of our language", said the minister. "The ghetto school", he added, is when a student is marginalized compared to the rest of the community and therefore we do not want the Alabama schools of the 1950s, where on one side there were whites and on the other side there were blacks". Valditara then ruled out tensions with Colle: "Absolutely not, there is no clash with the Quirinale. Our initiative, as the President of the Republic also said very well in Amatrice, goes in the direction of integration. We want foreign children who do not speak our language adequately to avoid being ghettoised". The minister then announced the allocation of 14 million for the improvement of Italian for foreign students.

Meloni's reference to Mattarella's circulars

If Valditara denies tensions with the Quirinale, Colle preferred not to comment on Meloni's latest statements on Sergio Mattarella. The Prime Minister, during interviews on TV, brought up the President of the Republic. “As a minister he drew up circulars on the roof of foreigners in the chamber,” said Meloni. The reference is to two documents from 1989 and 1990 in which the maximum number of foreign students in the class was indicated as 4-5. The Quirinale, as mentioned, made no comments. Sources close to Colle have only explained that discussions are underway between the offices of the Presidency of the Republic and those of the competent ministry on the measures that the government intends to implement. The opposition pointed out that there is "a clear difference" between a law text like the one now proposed by the executive and circulars, like those written by the then Minister of Education, defined as 'inclusive' and made with the aim of facilitating 'integration'. “Meloni has no sense of the State,” commented Democratic Party secretary Elly Schlein. He wants to "make propaganda by attacking the Hill", is the accusation of the M5s.