Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced on Sunday that her government will ban burqas and niqabs in schools, introduce a legally binding cap on the number of foreign students per class, and require parents of non-Italian pupils who struggle to integrate to attend Italian language lessons. Meloni made the announcement at the annual gathering of Gioventù Nazionale, the youth wing of her nationalist-conservative Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, in Rome. "You must go to school with your face uncovered, and in Italy no one, in the name of a real or supposed tradition, can decide that a young woman must hide herself," she told the crowd.

Burqas are full-body veils that cover the face entirely, while niqabs cover the face but leave the eyes visible. Neither garment is currently banned under Italian law. A 1975 law prohibits the wearing of helmets or garments that make identification difficult without justifiable reason, and a 2008 ruling by Italy's highest administrative court clarified that full-face veils may be worn for religious or cultural reasons as long as the face is revealed when identity checks are required. The proposed measures would need Cabinet approval and then parliamentary ratification within 60 days to become law.

On the question of classroom composition, Meloni did not specify a new percentage limit, despite a 30 percent cap on foreign students per class already existing under Italian law since 2010. School principals have noted that the existing guideline is already impossible to enforce in neighbourhoods where immigrant families are the majority. Foreign students currently account for about 11.6 percent of total enrolment in Italian schools, according to research institute Fondazione ISMU.

Italy's geographic position at the centre of the Mediterranean Sea, the principal maritime route connecting Europe to Africa, makes it one of the European countries most exposed to irregular migration, and the issue has long divided Italian politics and society. Debates over religious symbols, cultural integration, and immigration policy regularly polarise public opinion. The FdI faces growing pressure from the further-right National Future (FN) party, which called for a ban on burqas in schools as early as July and has risen sharply in polls since its launch in February.

Meloni framed the school measures in the language of integration rather than exclusion. "If the number of children who don't understand the language becomes large — or even the majority — that is no longer integration; it is neglect," she said. Critics and education administrators, however, point out that the practical obstacles to enforcing such rules remain significant, particularly in urban areas with dense migrant communities. With general elections expected in 2027, immigration is widely anticipated to be a defining issue of the campaign.