Italy's government has adopted a decree-law banning the wearing of face-covering veils — including burqas and niqabs — in schools, and capping the proportion of non-Italian-speaking foreign pupils in any single classroom at 30 percent. The measures, approved by cabinet on Thursday, take effect immediately upon publication in the Official Gazette but must be ratified by parliament within 60 days. Families who breach the rules face fines of between €200 and €1,000.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose nationalist-conservative Brothers of Italy (FdI) party leads the governing coalition, first outlined the plans at a gathering of her party's youth wing on Sunday. She framed the measures as practical tools for integration, writing on X that they were "common-sense steps that do not divide, but genuinely promote integration, avoid ghetto classrooms and give all students equal opportunities." Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara said the classroom cap would affect roughly 1,000 classes — about 0.3 percent of the national total — with schools unable to comply due to local demographics eligible for exemptions and additional language-support funding. According to ministry data, non-citizen pupils made up around 11 percent of Italy's school population in recent years, while classes already exceeding the 30-percent threshold number approximately 34,000, or about 10 percent of all classrooms nationwide. The decree also requires parents of foreign pupils with serious language difficulties to attend free Italian-language courses, with fines for non-compliance.

The political backdrop is significant. Italy, a major entry point for migrants crossing the Mediterranean, faces general elections in 2027, and immigration has become a defining issue. Meloni's coalition is under pressure from Roberto Vannacci, a former army general who leads the new far-right National Future (FN) party, which has called for strict limits on Islamic dress in schools and advocates the deportation of migrants. FN has polled at around 8 percent, surpassing some of the coalition's established partners. Opponents accuse Meloni of adopting culture-war positions to compete with Vannacci rather than addressing structural problems in the school system. "It is a shameful decree that seeks to hide the government's inability to address the real problems of the public school system," said Elly Schlein, leader of the centre-left Democratic Party.

Practical concerns have also been raised. School principals, teachers' unions, and education experts have questioned how the classroom cap can be enforced in areas with dense migrant populations and limited school choice, particularly for young primary-age children who cannot be expected to travel long distances. Unions argue that the government's €14 million funding package is insufficient to hire the specialist language teachers and cultural mediators required. President Sergio Mattarella has signalled reservations about any measures that could place barriers on access to education. Critics note that the burqa ban targets a phenomenon rarely seen in Italian classrooms, risking a measure that is largely symbolic. Migration historian Michele Colucci warned that the quota risks creating new forms of segregation rather than genuine inclusion, arguing that investment in cultural mediation and staff training is the more effective path forward. Italy introduced a similar non-binding recommendation under Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in 2010; the difference now is that the cap carries the force of law.