Italy plans foreign student limits, burqa and hijab ban in schools

Italy is preparing a measure that would introduce a legal limit on the number of foreign students in schools and ban the burqa and hijab there, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Sunday.

"Italian children cannot feel like a minority in the classroom," Meloni said at Fenix, a national youth festival organized by her Brothers of Italy (FdI) party's youth group.

"It's unthinkable that in an Italian classroom, Italian children feel cornered because they've become the minority. It can't be done," she added, according to ANSA News Agency.

She further said her government would ban the burqa and hijab in schools.

Meloni said parents of foreign students struggling to integrate into the school system would also be required to learn Italian.

The measure is expected to be submitted to the Council of Ministers soon, Meloni said.