Meloni proposed banning face-covering veils in Italian schools and limiting the number of foreign students

Meloni linked these initiatives to what she said was the fact that Italian children should not feel like a minority in the classroom. “If the number of children who do not understand the language of instruction becomes large or even makes up the majority, that is no longer integration; that is neglect”, she said.

The prime minister did not specify exactly how the cabinet plans to limit the number of foreign students. She was referring to children without Italian citizenship, of whom there are about 930,000 in the country’s schools, according to the research institute Fondazione ISMU.

This group accounts for almost 11.6% of schoolchildren in Italy, ISMU calculated. It also noted that over the past ten years, the number of foreign minors in the country has fallen by 4.5%.

The Italian prime minister came to power amid voters’ demand for a tougher migration policy, and combating migration was a key part of her campaign.

For Meloni, this is not the first attempt to tighten rules related to Muslim clothing and migration. In 2025, her party had already announced plans to ban the burqa and niqab in all public places across the country, calling it a response to “Islamic separatism”; this bill is still being considered in the lower house of parliament.

Sources

• Source: politico.eu