Italy approves school decree banning burqa, capping number of foreign pupils

Italy has approved a school decree banning the burqa in educational settings and capping the number of foreign pupils permitted in individual classrooms.

The government said the measures are intended to "promote integration" and to prevent what it described as "ghetto-like classrooms," framing the decree as a response to concerns about the concentration of foreign students in certain schools.

Details of the specific cap on foreign pupils, including the percentage or number limit to be applied, and the mechanisms schools will use to enforce the burqa ban, were not included in the available source material. It was also not specified when the decree would take effect or how it would be implemented across the country's school system.

The decree is likely to draw reaction from groups representing immigrant communities and civil liberties organizations, given its restrictions on religious dress and its explicit targeting of classroom composition based on students' national origin. No responses from such groups were included in the material reviewed.