Italian parents pull children out of school with ‘too many foreign pupils’

Four children at the Don Bosco primary school in the southern Italian city of Bari were moved to another school by parents who had initially asked the principal to move them to a class with fewer “foreign” pupils.

“It happened in the first year, in which seven out of 20 students are ‘foreign’,” or have non-Italian parents, school principal Gerardo Marchitelli told La Repubblica.

“But five of them were born in Bari, and they don't even have a language gap. The other two were born in Georgia and Bangladesh."

He said the parents of seven or eight children had originally asked him at the start of the school year to move their children to another class.

“Having understood their motivation, I replied that they only had two options: let their children stay where they were or ask me for permission to change schools."

“I must say that there was no conflict,” added Marchitelli. “They made an appointment, came to me and said that there were too many foreign students in the class. I replied that, as far as I was concerned, there were none." 

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“They didn’t understand that the school does not see skin colour. For us they are just children.” he said. “If the parent perceives differences as something negative, I certainly cannot educate the parent too. I try, but not too much.

Marchitelli said racism “is a problem that exists everywhere.”

“There are also those who worry about the presence of a disabled child, because they think it could slow down the class,” he said.

The school is in Bari’s central Libertà neighbourhood, which is known for its diversity. "They are truly wonderful children who know at least two languages, English or French and Italian, and perhaps read Arabic in the afternoon in the mosque," Marchitelli said.

Local authorities praised the principal’s response to the parents’ complaint and stressed that the city of Bari has a long history of welcoming people from other countries.

Ludovico Abbaticchio, Puglia’s regional guarantor for minors, said "The headteacher of Don Bosco did well in being firm and decisive in saying no when some parents asked to move their child to another classroom because there were too many “black-skinned” children in the classroom."

"These parents should go back to school and learn the value of respect for people, religions and civil life," he added.

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Following the reports, Bari’s municipal education councilor, Paola Romano, invited any parents with “similar types of doubts” to meet her to discuss them.

”In Bari no one is a foreigner. Our city has a history of hospitality.” she added.

“Furthermore, as people from Bari and southern Italy we have historically been welcomed by other communities in other parts of Italy and the world."