Right and wrong, anti-Semitic tendencies in universities worry Valditara –

Giuseppe Valditara, Minister of Education, was a guest on the April 4th episode of Dritto e rovescio, a program broadcast on Rete4 and hosted by Paolo Del Debbio. Government representative Meloni focused on the Pioltello school closed for Ramadan: “The school justified the resolution due to educational needs and reduced the holiday days from 4 to 2. I believe that integration is achieved by keeping schools open not by closing them and that when the majority of students are Italian, Italian students must be allowed to go to school while it is right to justify Islamic students who stay at home, the justification can be made” .

Valditara then expressed himself on the controversy regarding foreigners in school: “The problem of a limit on the number of foreigners in classes has already been posed by Minister Berlinguer, countersigned by President Ciampi, re-proposed by Minister Gelmini. This is a real and not propagandistic problem and this is demonstrated by the fact that several majorities and ministers of opposite political colors had intervened on this issue. The big problem – underlines the minister – is that school dropout, certified by Istat, is over 30% for foreigners while for Italians it is 9.8%. Knowledge of Italian is 22% less for foreign students compared to an Italian student, meaning one year less. In the suburban schools of the large cities of the North we have an average performance lower than the regional average, due to a lack of linguistic integration of foreign students. If we want the good of these children we must do something, to include them we must strengthen the teaching of Italian and mathematics with specific courses and avoid having classes in which the majority of children do not know a word of Italian. The objective is integration, otherwise ghettos will be created, ghettos are those where the kids cannot speak Italian”.

Del Debbio’s interview with Valditara continues with a focus on the anti-Israel protests staged in universities: “The Italian government has maintained a very balanced position on the Israeli-Palestinian situation and I do not consider the protests once morest it justified. I am worried regarding certain anti-Semitic tendencies that emerge in some universities, not only in Italy. We even saw what happened at Harvard. All this following what happened 80 years ago must leave us very worried.” “I am once morest the request to interrupt scientific relations with Israeli universities – he concludes – because I believe that science, research and education must be free and there must be relations between universities to contribute to the progress of humanity. The university and research must be kept out of political disputes.”

Foreigners in the classroom: we’re talking regarding it #Forehandandbackhand with Minister Valditara pic.twitter.com/xvTrdsKPRp

— Forehand and reverse (@Drittorovescio_) April 4, 2024