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Education Minister Defends 'L'Italia agli italiani' and Orders School Inspection

The minister sent regional inspectors to verify whether sanctions at a Cesena high school were for rule-breaking or for the banner’s political content.

Overview

  • Two students at Liceo Vincenzo Monti in Cesena displayed a banner reading “L'Italia agli italiani” on June 6 and were given a low conduct mark plus an assigned civics paper by their class council.
  • On Wednesday, July 15 the education minister Giuseppe Valditara told the Chamber he finds the slogan not censurable and has opened a verification with the Ufficio Scolastico Regionale of Emilia-Romagna to review the class council’s decision.
  • Valditara emphasized the ministry cannot directly change a single class council’s grades and said inspectors must determine if the sanction was tied to breaching school rules about banners or to the political content of the students’ work.
  • Inspectors will check whether the assigned elaborato, reportedly about race laws and an essay by Guido Barbujani, was linked to the banner’s message and warned that a content-driven sanction would breach teacher deontology.
  • Early reports that students chanted praise for the X Mas have been disputed by at least one involved student, and media outlets have framed the story differently across the political spectrum.