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Italy is preparing to ban face coverings in schools and to cap the number of foreign students per class, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Sunday.
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Meloni → see → Sunday
Italy is among the European countries most exposed to migrant arrivals because of its central Mediterranean location, making migration a hot-button issue and a major challenge for successive governments.
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migration → expose → governments
The integration of migrants, particularly those from Muslim-majority countries, remains contentious in Italian politics and society.
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integration → remain → politics
Debates over religious symbols, cultural integration, citizenship rules and immigration policy frequently polarize public opinion.
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Debates → polarize → opinion
'A measure will soon be presented to a Cabinet meeting to legally establish a maximum number of foreign students per class,' Meloni told an annual gathering of the youth wing of her Brothers of Italy party.
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Meloni → present → party
'It also requires parents of foreign students facing serious difficulties integrating into the school system to learn Italian and bans burqas and niqabs in schools,' Meloni added.
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Meloni → require → schools
'If there is only one child in a class who doesn't understand Italian, that child will likely be able to learn the language and integrate quickly with the help of classmates and teachers.
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child → be → classmates
'However, if the number of children who don't understand the language becomes large - or even the majority - that is no longer integration; it is neglect,' she said.
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she → understand → language
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni speaks during the annual national youth festival
Italy is preparing to ban face coverings in schools and to cap the number of foreign students per class (File photo)
Meloni did not specify what the maximum number of foreign students per class would be.
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number → speak → class
Students who are not Italian citizens account for 11.6% of those enrolled in Italian schools - nearly 12 in every 100 students - according to Fondazione ISMU, a research institution.
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who → account → ISMU
'You must go to school with your face uncovered, and in Italy no one, in the name of a real or supposed tradition, can decide that a young woman must hide herself, ' Meloni said.
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Meloni → go → herself
A crackdown on the use of burqas in schools was called for in July by the National Future (FN) party.
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crackdown → call → party
The FN, which is not part of the governing coalition, is further to the right than Meloni's and has emerged as a major challenger, rising sharply in the polls since launching in February.
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which → govern → February
While there is no law in Italy that expressly bans burqas, either in schools or in public places, a 1975 law prohibits the use of helmets or garments that make identification difficult without a justified reason.
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identification → be → reason
In 2008, Italy's highest administrative court clarified that full-face veils may be worn for religious or cultural reasons provided that the face is revealed when identity verification is required.
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verification → clarify → reasons
The anti-immigrant League party, which is part of Meloni's coalition, submitted a bill to the Senate earlier this year that would ban helmets or garments except for in certain circumstances, such as sporting events or places of worship.
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that → submit → worship
It comes as Austria earlier this month rolled out a ban on Islamic headscarves in schools with hijabs and burkas barred from classrooms for girls under 14.
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hijabs → come → 14
Austria's ruling coalition of three centrist parties proposed the ban in schools, arguing it was acting to protect girls' freedom.
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it → rule → freedom
The legislation was passed in parliament in December with the support of the far-right Freedom Party.
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legislation → pass → Party
Only the smallest party in parliament, the left-wing Greens, opposed it.
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party → oppose → it
The group that formally represents Austria's Muslims, the Islamic Religious Community in Austria (IGGO), has said the move was an infringement of fundamental rights, pledging to fight it before the Constitutional Court, which rejected challenges in July because the legislation had not yet gone into force.
And last month, Portugal banned the use of full-face veils under a 'burqa law' that the government says will protect 'human identity.'
The country's president enacted the law pushed by the far right banning the concealment of faces in public, a measure that has been widely seen as targeting Muslim women wearing a full-face veil.
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that → represent → veil
'The face must be considered a central element of human identity and communication,' President Antonio Jose Seguro said in a statement.
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Seguro → consider → statement
The final version of the text - described by local media as the 'burqa law' after the garment worn by some Muslim women to cover their bodies and faces - was adopted by parliament in July with votes from the right-wing governing coalition and the far right, while left-wing parties voted against it.
The law prohibits the wearing of garments designed to conceal the face or prevent identification in public spaces, as well as any coercion forcing a person to cover their face for reasons related to gender, religion, age or origin.
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law → describe → gender
Rights campaigners have long pointed out that such bans also effectively erode women's rights by telling them what to wear.
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bans → point → what
The Aporia
