World

Italian PM Giorgia Meloni is proposing a ban on burqas and niqabs in schools, a language requirement for parents of struggling students, and a cap on foreign pupils per classroom — with Italy on track to be the first EU country to legally enforce a classroom cap like this. Meloni says it protects Italian kids from becoming "pushed into a corner" as a minority in their own classrooms; a constitutional law professor warns it could violate Italy's constitutional guarantee of school access for all children, and a Green MP accused her of "chasing the neo-fascist right" instead of fixing real problems like low teacher pay. Necessary integration policy, or discrimination dressed up as school reform?

Italy already caps foreign pupils at 30% per class under a loosely-enforced 2010 rule — Meloni's bill would tighten it and add the face-covering ban.