The Independent reported Giorgia Meloni proposing a school veil ban and a cap on foreign pupils. Al Jazeera, citing AFP and Reuters, said she promised on Sunday at a Brothers of Italy youth festival to ban burqas and niqabs in schools and to make Italian lessons compulsory for parents of foreign students with serious language difficulties.
The Independent reported on 20 September 2026 that Meloni proposed a school veil ban and a cap on foreign pupils. Al Jazeera the same day named burqas and niqabs as the garments she promised to keep out of schools. Those pages stop at the figures they printed. A later official tally is not on these pages.[1], [2]
Al Jazeera said she outlined the changes at a gathering of the youth wing of Brothers of Italy in Rome. She told the Gioventu Nazionale festival that anyone who comes to Italy and wants to build a future there must learn the language, understand the culture and respect the rules. Those pages stop at the figures they printed. A later official tally is not on these pages.[2]
Al Jazeera said the package would also make Italian language lessons compulsory for parents of foreign students having serious language difficulties. The Independent's card already carried a cap on foreign pupils as the second leg of the same Sunday proposal. Those pages stop at the figures they printed. A later official tally is not on these pages.[2], [1]
