Italian Prime Minister Announces Ban on Veil and Niqab in Schools
Islamabad (Daily Quudrat) – Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced on Sunday that her government is preparing to impose a ban on the burqa and niqab, along with limiting the number of foreign students in schools.
The Italian Prime Minister made this announcement while addressing the annual meeting of the youth wing of the ruling right-wing party “Brothers of Italy,” aimed at clarifying strict policies regarding immigrants.
In her speech, Giorgia Meloni criticized students who cover their faces, saying that “every female student going to school should keep her face open. No one in Italy can demand that a young woman cover her face.”
Giorgia Meloni announced in her speech that her government will soon introduce a new law to deal with the problems faced by immigrant children in schools. Under it, a specific number of foreign students will be fixed in each class.
Italian PM Meloni:
The proposed measure will introduce an obligation for the parents of foreign students with serious school-integration problems to learn Italian, and it will introduce a ban on the burqa and niqab at school.
In Italy, nobody, in the name of a real or supposed… pic.twitter.com/zYm54QCYBD
— Clash Report (@clashreport) September 20, 2026
In addition, learning the Italian language will also be made mandatory for the parents of foreign students, while the same law will impose a complete ban on wearing the burqa and niqab within school premises.
Justifying the decision to limit the number of foreign students, the Italian Prime Minister said that “if only one child in a class does not understand Italian, he can quickly learn the language with the help of his classmates and teachers and mingle with others. However, if the number of children who do not understand the language becomes too high, then this falls in the category of neglect rather than integration.”
According to data from the Italian research institute “Fondazione Ismu,” the proportion of foreign students studying in Italian schools is 11.6 percent, meaning that out of every 100 students, approximately 12 hold foreign citizenship.
Big news from Italy 🇮🇹
Georgia Meloni just announced Italy will BAN face coverings in school.
The government will also have a limit on the number of foreign students in each classroom to avoid Italian children from becoming a minority.
And parents of students who have…
— PeterSweden (@PeterSweden7) September 20, 2026
It should be noted that the issue of banning the hijab, burqa, or niqab in schools and public places in Europe is not new; rather, it has been a highly sensitive and debated topic for the past two decades.
Several European countries have previously imposed restrictions on face-covering or adopting religiously mandated appearances in schools and public places.
France in 2004 imposed a complete ban on wearing all conspicuous religious symbols inside schools, including the hijab, niqab, the Sikh turban, and the Jewish skullcap. Later, in 2010, France imposed a ban on wearing the niqab in public places.
Austria also imposed a ban last year on girls under the age of 14 wearing the hijab in schools and had also announced fines ranging from 150 euros to 1,000 euros in case of violation.
Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Switzerland have also in the past imposed various kinds of restrictions on face-covering in public places or government institutions. In Italy itself, there has been ongoing debate on face-covering, but now Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has formally announced bringing specific legislation for schools.
