Italy’s schools get ready to reopen, with new rules

Schools reopen between 8 and 16 September, with opening dates varying from region to region.

Around seven million students in Italy will soon be returning to the classroom as schools across the country reopen after the summer holidays, with several new rules in place.

Phone ban

Italy’s education minister Giuseppe Valditara in June banned mobile phones for all students in elementary, middle and high schools, with effect from the start of the new school year this September.

This extends an existing ban on phones in schools from primary to junior high level, introduced last year.

The move, designed to reduce distractions and improve academic focus, requires phones to be stored in designated compartments during class time and school hours.

The measure also aims to encourage handwritten work and a return to more traditional learning materials including a paper homework journal.

Maturità

Valditara has also announced an important change to the final year oral exam, part of the so-called Maturità exams.

Earlier this year several high school seniors made headlines for boycotting the oral exam, as a form of silent protest, but ultimately passed the Maturità anyway.

Under the new rules, those who deliberately refuse to take the oral exam will fail.

When do schools in Italy reopen after the summer holidays?

The reopening date of Italy’s schools varies according to region, with the autonomous province of Bolzano the first to reopen, on 8 September.

Schools will reopen in Piemonte, Valle d’Aosta, Veneto and the autonomous province of Trento on 10 September.

The next day students return to the classroom in Friuli Venezia-Giulia, followed on 12 September by Lombardia.

On 15 September schools repen in Abruzzo, Basilicata, Campania, Emilia Romagna, Lazio, Liguria, Marche, Molise, Sardinia, Sicily, Tuscany and Umbria.

The last regions to reopen schools, on 16 September, are Calabria and Puglia.

Photo credit: Stefano Guidi / Shutterstock.com.