Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Sunday that she would soon present to her government a measure that would limit the number of foreign students in classrooms and ban the wearing of the burqa and niqab in schools.
Meloni told the youth wing of her conservative nationalist Brotherhood of Italy party that the measure would make Italian language lessons compulsory for parents of foreign students who face “serious difficulties in integrating into the school system.”
“For us, anyone who comes to Italy and wants to build their future here must learn our language, understand our culture, and respect our rules,” she said to rapturous applause at the Giovento Nazionale National Festival in Rome. “It’s the only serious way to welcome them.”
Meloni specifically pointed to the ban on the burqa, the full-body garment worn by some Muslim women, and the niqab, the veil worn by more conservative Muslim women, in which only the eyes are visible at most. But Meloni did not mention the hijab, a head covering worn by some Muslim women.
