The President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella responds to the letter from Maria Rendani, vice-principal of the Iqbal Masih state comprehensive institute in Pioltello which will be closed on April 10th, the day of the end of Ramadan holiday.
Rendani had addressed Mattarella inviting him to visit the school: «I have received and read your letter carefully and, in thanking you», underlines the Head of State, «I would like to tell you that I greatly appreciated it, as well as - beyond of the single episode, which is actually of modest importance - I appreciate the work that the teaching staff and the institute bodies carry out in fulfilling a precious and particularly demanding task ".
However, the controversy does not subside and indeed reaches Parliament where FdI has announced a question to the Minister of Education Giuseppe Valditara to find out what it intends to do now. In the inspection visit of March 18, the school board explained in a long note, some irregularities were found in the resolution on the school calendar, namely the fact that there were "four days of suspension of lessons compared to the maximum of three days" that could be decided by the school, that the Region's resolution does not provide for the possibility of bringing forward the start of lessons to compensate (which they had chosen to do in Pioltello) and furthermore «the absence of express didactic motivations in the resolution of the Institute Council for the days of suspension".
Hence the decision yesterday to "give up" two of the planned holiday days (Monday 29th and Tuesday 30th April), confirming instead the closure on the 10th for Eid al Fitr and on Friday 26th April, the day after Liberation Day. Dates chosen considering the high rate of absences over the two days "which compromises the effective carrying out of the planned teaching and educational activities, also in coherence with the educational choices". It was a decision "born spontaneously within us, based on reasons that we believe they are consistent with the right to education and instruction, with the Italian Constitution and which originates from the consideration made by the Teaching Board" explained by the School Council announcing that on May 21st for the World Day of Cultural Diversity the school will organize a dialogue «on the themes of inclusion, interaction between cultures and comparison between religions».
For the president of Lombardy Attilio Fontana, however, closing for the end of Ramadan is an "absolutely out of place" choice. «It is not a given that to respect» religious holidays «a school must be closed. They can also be respected in another way it seems to me", he observed. It is a "scandalous choice" of "reverse integration" according to Northern League MEP Silvia Sardone, who was the first to raise the controversy while FdI parliamentarian Riccardo De Corato spoke of "something far-fetched" when announcing the question in Valditara. «Our ability to achieve unity in diversity - the Institute Council concluded, quoting Mahatma Gandhi - will be the beauty and test of our civilization».
(Unioneonline/D)
