Italy to ban burqas, niqabs in schools
Italy will ban burqas and niqabs in schools and limit the number of foreign students per class, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Sunday. Italy is a frontline country for migration, and integration is a major campaign issue ahead of a general election next year. "A measure will soon be presented to a cabinet meeting to legally establish a maximum number of foreign students per class," Meloni told a gathering of the youth wing of her Brothers of Italy (FdI) 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," she said. A crackdown on the use of burqas in schools was called for in July by the National Future (FN) 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. 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. In 2008, Italy's highest administrative court clarified that full-face...
Read full article
_2026_02_17_02_09_00.jpg)