Signal Italy's Meloni Proposes Foreign Student Classroom Caps and Burqa Ban in Schools

Summary

Speaking at a Brothers of Italy youth festival in Rome on September 20, 2026, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced a government measure to be presented to the Cabinet. It would cap the proportion of foreign students per classroom to promote integration, building on an existing 2010 ministerial circular that already sets a 30% cap. It would also ban burqas and niqabs -- while explicitly permitting hijabs -- for girls up to age 14 in schools, and require Italian-language classes for parents of foreign students struggling to integrate. Meloni argued that high concentrations of non-native speakers in a classroom amount to 'abandonment' rather than integration. The measures still require Cabinet and parliamentary approval before becoming law.