Authorities in Milan, Italy have ordered an Arabic school there to close, saying the children must attend state schools to integrate. The Arabic school was opened a week ago, Milan Perfect Gianvalerio Lombardi said, who signed a decree Thursday for the temporary closure of the school which has so far been attended by about 60 mostly Egyptian children.
As well as not having the necessary authorisation from local education authorities, the school lacked the "required security standards needed to guarantee safety of children and teachers," a statement said.
The opening of the school in an eastern suburb has rekindled polemics over the rights of Muslims in Italy to give their children an education with an Islamic slant.
Sponsored by the Egyptian consulate, the initiative aims to offer a bilingual syllabus, including two hours' study of the Koran a week. The school's directors say they are inspired by the desire to promote integration.
"The challenge of integration must be faced in state schools, not elsewhere," Education Minister Giuseppe Fioroni said, commenting on the Milan prefect's measure.
The Milan-based Italian-Egyptian Association, which has helped run Arabic culture classes in local schools for the last two years, also insists that having a separate school for children from Muslim families is a mistake.
The mayor of Milan, Letizia Moratti, has condemned the opening of the school, calling it a "lack of respect" for the local administration. The affair echoes a similar episode a year in September 2005, when another unauthorised school in Milan was closed amid fierce polemics.
That school, in Via Quaranta, had been giving lessons to 500 mostly Egyptian children. Some of them returned to Egypt after the closure, others studied at home and others went to state schools where efforts were made to introduce Islamic culture classes.
A demonstration was held outside the new school in Via Ventura on Tuesday, organised by the centre-right opposition party the Northern League, which traditionally takes a hard line on immigration.
Protestors called for the school's immediate closure.
But many of the parents who brought their children to the school on Via Ventura this week said they did not understand the protests.
"Italian children in Egypt go to an Italian school. Why can't my Egyptian children go to a bilingual one?" they asked.
The new school, whose organisers have vowed to press ahead with lessons, has nine Italian teachers and nine Arabic ones. It is run by an organisation called Insieme (Together) made up of parents who formerly sent their children to the school in Via Quaranta.
Source: AxcessNews
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