Italian schools struggle to make migrant pupils feel at home

{"text":[[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":9.74,"text":"At the Iqbal Masih comprehensive school in Pioltello — a working-class Milan suburb with many foreign residents, six new North African pupils recently watched a video of the hit song “Casa Mia” (My House) by Italian rap star Ghali, whose own parents were Tunisian migrants. "}],[{"start":25.33,"text":"Afterwards, instructor Alice Marcandalli — trained to teach Italian to non-native speakers — used the lyrics to discuss vocabulary linked to home: from verbs like eat, sleep, play and wash to ideas like hospitality, security and tranquility. "}],[{"start":40.41,"text":"All new migrant pupils at this school get 4.5 hours of weekly intensive Italian instruction for at least a year so they don’t flounder in class and can communicate with teachers and peers. "}],[{"start":50.379999999999995,"text":"“This is the base for integration — it’s the first step,” said Marcandalli. "},{"start":55.047,"text":"“This is not a vacation for them . . . Italian is fundamental for them to understand the country where they are growing up. ”"}],[{"start":60.949999999999996,"text":"Yet few of the nearly 900,000 foreign pupils enrolled in the country’s school system are lucky enough to get such support. "},{"start":67.429,"text":"Italian law guarantees every child’s right to attend school regardless of legal status, but Rome has no protocols and limited resources to facilitate their academic success. "}],[{"start":77.37,"text":"Around 10.6 per cent of Italy’s 8.2mn school children are foreigners; of those, two-thirds are the Italian-born children of resident foreign workers. "},{"start":86.37400000000001,"text":"In Milan and other heavily industrialised northern provinces, foreign pupils make up 20 to 30 per cent of primary school enrolment. "}],[{"start":94.56,"text":"But teachers are largely left to their own devices to cope, often with dismal results. "},{"start":99.539,"text":"“There are schools that are doing a good job with respect to foreigners and others that are not,” said Gabriele Ballarino, a sociologist at the University of Milan. "},{"start":107.919,"text":"“It just depends on the skills and motivation of the principal and teachers. ”"}],[{"start":112.07000000000001,"text":"Typically, new arrivals to Italy receive just 20 to 30 hours of specialised Italian instruction. "},{"start":118.099,"text":"Italian-born foreign pupils get no remedial help at all, even though their language skills usually lag behind their citizen peers and they fare poorly on standardised tests in all subjects. "},{"start":127.71700000000001,"text":"More than 30 per cent of immigrant pupils drop out of school compared with just 9.8 per cent of Italians — costly failures for a rapidly ageing society with an acute skilled worker shortage. "}],[{"start":138.93,"text":"“Italy doesn’t have many young people, so every single dropout is a big problem,” said demographer Francesco Billari, rector of Milan’s Bocconi University. "},{"start":147.89700000000002,"text":"“It’s a waste of what you call human capital. ”"}],[{"start":150.70000000000002,"text":"In a bid to improve the picture, education minister Giuseppe Valditara has suggested that immigrant students attend transition classes until they master Italian. "},{"start":159.442,"text":"But opposition politicians and other critics say that would create educational ghettos. "}],[{"start":164.29000000000002,"text":"Even for the most committed schools, working with migrant-origin children can be a political minefield in a polarised society chafing against its increasing ethnic diversity. "}],[{"start":173.75000000000003,"text":"At the Pioltello school, of the roughly 1,300 pupils aged three to 14, around 45 per cent are foreign nationals — mainly of north African origin — while another 150 are recently naturalised, mostly not speaking Italian at home. "}],[{"start":188.37000000000003,"text":"Headteacher Alessandro Fanfoni has worked to create a supportive environment for them with strong backing from a Milan-based children’s charity, Aleimar, which helped pay Marcandalli’s salary and provided a part-time cultural and linguistic mediator to improve communication with migrant parents. "}],[{"start":204.09000000000003,"text":"But when Pioltello teachers decided to close the school on Eid in April to avoid high absenteeism on a festival celebrated by more than half the pupils, they found themselves at the centre of a national firestorm, slammed by far-right politicians for fuelling the “Islamisisation of Italy”. "}],[{"start":219.67000000000004,"text":"Deputy head Maria Rendani defended the Eid closure as a “civilised choice” and said successful integration of foreign children also requires respectful recognition of their cultural origins. "}],[{"start":230.31000000000006,"text":"“These children have two cultures — they are growing up and studying in Italy,” she said. "},{"start":235.30200000000005,"text":"“But being part of the country where they live cannot be done by denying the cultures of the countries from which they come. ”"}],[{"start":240.79000000000005,"text":""}]],"url":"https://creatives.ftacademy.cn/album/159796-1718871575.mp3"}