A Rome school has been hailed as a model of integration after cutting its ratio of foreign to Italian pupils from 95% 15 years ago to 50% today.
The Carlo Pisacane school in the heart of the multi-ethnicquarter of Tor Pignattara, "is a virtuous example, so much so that now Italian families are queuing up to enroll their kidshere," said head teacher Rosanna Labalestra.
She said a 20% cap on immigrant children, or the children of immigrants, as advocated by rightwing League party leader MatteoSalvini, would be "impossible to implement here" and would mean that many parents would be forced to take their kids to other schools.
Salvini called for the cap after a school near Milan where 40% of the pupils are Muslim said it would give all its kids, including the Italian ones, the day off for Eid on April 10, when Muslims celebrate the fast-breaking after the holy month ofRamadan.
Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara on Thursday said the government would take measures, which he did not outline, to make sure there were majority Italian students in all Italian classrooms.
He also rejected multiculturalism and urged assimilation that native and immigrant communities cannot live separately.
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