Italy's Meloni announces school ban on burqa and headscarf

September 20, 2026 at 07:28 PM1 min

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Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced a new government package that will ban the burqa and headscarf in schools. The plan also sets a legal cap on foreign students per class and requires Italian language learning for parents of struggling foreign students. The announcement came at a Brothers of Italy youth event in Rome.

Key Facts

The ban on burqa and headscarf in schools was announced by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at a Brothers of Italy youth event in Rome.
The package includes a legal cap on the number of foreign students per class.
Parents of foreign students with serious integration problems will be required to learn Italian.
Meloni stated that gender equality is non-negotiable and no one can force a young woman to hide her face in the name of tradition.

School Dress Code Restrictions

The new package bans the burqa and headscarf in all educational institutions. Meloni declared that students must attend school with their faces uncovered. She emphasized that no one in Italy can decide that a young woman must hide her face based on real or alleged tradition. The Prime Minister asserted that equality between men and women is not negotiable, both on the streets and in schools.

Foreign Student Integration Measures

The government will introduce a legal maximum for foreign students in each classroom. Parents of foreign students who face serious difficulties adapting to school will be obliged to learn Italian. The measures were announced as part of a package to be presented to the Council of Ministers.