By: V4 Agency
Almost all the students in a Milan school have an immigrant background, and the city’s outskirts are in a similarly grave situation, a local councilor says.
In 105 schools in and around Milan, more than 50 per cent of the enrolled students are foreign nationals, and an upward trend is clearly visible, Il Giornale reports. 65 of the institutions are primary schools, the remaining 40 are secondary schools.
Milan City Councilor Silvia Sardone said the existence of schools where immigrants are in majority creates a situation which undermines learning morale. “The fact that different ethnic groups in the family continue to speak the language of the country of origin may contribute to a slowdown in Italian language learning, which is detrimental to everyone.”
“The school on Paravia street tops the list of primary schools with a migrant majority, with 94 per cent of students having a migratory background, Silvia Sardone added. This is followed by the schools on Gasparri (80%), Ravenna (75%), Crespi (75%) and Dressi (72%) streets. In the outskirts of Milano, such as San Siro, Corvetto, Comasina, where the proportion of immigrants is very high, non-Italians have also become the majority in the institutions,” she stressed.
The data relating to the primary school on Paravia street is not particularly surprising, as almost all students are foreigners. The situation is not much different in the secondary schools of the area, either, where some 80 per cent of the students are immigrants.
The situation is particularly bad in the suburbs of Milan, Sardone added. “In some areas, migrants have created their own ghettos, which hinders the process of integration.” Thus, the Italian language has vanished from the streets, schools and shops of certain neighbourhoods, Ms Sardone explained.