2024-03-29 14:13:39
“The proposal of the Minister of Education and Merit to limit the presence of foreign students in classes is positive because it promotes inclusion and integration and clearly combats discrimination.” From pediatrician Italo Farnetani comes “applause” for the project announced via social media by Giuseppe Valditara. “This would end the ghetto classes, on the one hand, and those of the so-called ‘good society’ on the other”, explains the expert to Adnkronos Salute. Balancing the component of foreign students “would facilitate mutual understanding within the classes – the professor of Paediatrics at the Ludes University-United Campus of Malta is convinced – with multicultural enrichment which is the prerequisite for a healthy and productive coexistence”.
“Let’s start with the numbers”, Farnetani began. “In the entire population resident in Italy – calculates the doctor – minors who have both foreign parents represent 11.5% of the total”. But the percentages vary by ‘zooming in’ on the different age groups: “In the nursery-elementary school – he specifies – the pupils with both foreign parents are 14%, a share which drops to 10.5% among children aged middle school, to further reduce to 9% at 16, when compulsory schooling ends”.
According to Farnetani, “the percentage of foreign students in classes should be modulated precisely by taking these differences into account”, so as to reflect what Italian society is today inside the classroom. “The proposal of 20% of pupils with both foreign parents is therefore appropriate for nursery schools and primary schools – highlights the pediatrician – while for secondary schools it could be further reduced. This is in the interest of all children, both those have one or both foreign parents, and those who have one or both Italian parents”.
By working on a proportionate ‘melting pot’ in schools, reasons Farnetani, “there will be an exchange between the various cultures and various lifestyles. It would be simpler to build the foundations for a multicultural society in the classroom, based on knowledge and mutual enrichment “, reiterates the doctor.
“Creating a ‘class group’ that truly reflects the composition of society as a whole” is the objective to be pursued in the eyes of the pediatrician. “Children with foreign parents, the vast majority of whom were born in Italy – he recalls – thanks to mutual knowledge” favored by a balanced mix “will be able to identify with their peer group and therefore integrate completely into the society in which they live. This – warns the pediatrician – does not happen however when there are classes in which the percentage of foreign students is a majority. Because in this case the class group does not represent external society, but becomes” precisely a ghetto, “a place of exclusion and discrimination”.
Farnetani invites us to pay particular attention to “full-time classes”, where the ‘ghetto risk’ “is even higher because foreign parents, being able to count less on the support of other family members, need schools that guarantee a more prolonged opening ” and they favor full-time work for their children. “For foreign children, these ghetto classes are harmful – insists the expert – Not only from a relational point of view, but also in terms of learning, especially linguistic. In fact, it is known that Italian, especially in the early years, is learned with a ‘bath of language’. And in the end, in the ghetto classes, Italian is spoken very little and often badly.” The foundations of multiculturalism, is the message of the children’s doctor, are laid by cultivating harmony. The richness of diversity.
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