Valditara: 'Ban the burqa in school to reaffirm women's dignity'

Italian Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara is pushing for a ban on wearing the burqa in schools, framing it as a crucial step to reaffirm women's dignity and gender equality. Valditara believes allowing students to wear burqas contradicts constitutional principles and hinders integration by accepting discrimination. He suggested potentially revoking residency permits for parents who retaliate by not sending their daughters to school, drawing parallels to the security-focused decree in Caivano. The proposal has ignited debate, with the FLC CGIL union's general secretary, Gianna Fracassi, criticizing the focus on assimilation rather than integration and expressing concern over the "security and punitive framework." Democratic Party senator Simona Malpezzi echoed these sentiments, urging Valditara to consult schools directly and questioning the actual number of students affected, noting her own lack of encounters with such cases. She highlighted instances where schools have managed identity verification for students wearing the niqab, such as in Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Valditara, however, retorted that critics from the Democratic Party and CGIL are hesitant to address concrete issues, preferring polemics over defending constitutional values.

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If we allow a girl to come to school with a burqa, we include her by accepting principles contrary to the Constitution, such as man-woman discrimination, but we do not integrate her. We accept that she is a non-person, we prevent her from socializing.