A-Infos (en) Italy, FAS Sicilia Libertaria: School: from embarrassment to healthy foul language - Giovanna lo Presti (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

I am embarrassed to have to express an opinion on the bill entitled 
Provisions for the implementation of the differentiated autonomy of the 
regions with ordinary statute pursuant to article 116, third paragraph, 
of the Constitution approved by the Senate on 24 January; It makes me 
even more embarrassed to have to express an opinion on the possible 
consequences that this measure will cause on the education sector. Where 
does the embarrassment come from? From the fact that anyone who deals a 
little with politics and school, having to express their opinion on the 
matter, has only one possible linguistic register: that of foul 
language, which is the most suitable for expressing the stylistic zone 
that goes from indignation to disdain and, finally, to anger. I'm not 
exaggerating. Meanwhile: you would entrust a bill which could 
potentially disintegrate the Republic and decree the transition to a 
sort of feudal particularism, in which each Region makes its own law, to 
someone who, after having produced a memorable electoral law, defined it 
as " rubbish" in a television programme? We had to wait nine years for 
the Constitutional Court to decree its partial unconstitutionality. And 
then: would you give credit to someone who called a black minister an 
"orangutan" and later whined in the newspapers claiming to have been hit 
by a macumba thrown at him by the father of the aforementioned minister? 
In reality, there wouldn't even be a need to give him psycho-aptitude 
tests to send him home; instead, Roberto Calderoli is the owner of the 
Ministry for Regional Affairs and Autonomy and has brought to the 
approval of the Senate a bill which, from the beginning, reveals its 
false and lying nature. I quote verbatim: Art. 1. (Purpose) 1. This law, 
respecting national unity and in order to remove discrimination and 
disparities in access to essential services in the territory, also 
respecting the principles of legal and economic unity, of economic, 
social and territorial cohesion, also with reference to 
insularity,[...]as well as the solidarity principle referred to in 
articles 2 and 5 of the Constitution, defines the general principles for 
the attribution to the Regions with ordinary statute of further forms 
and particular conditions of autonomy ..." A bizarre way of respecting 
national unity that entrusts the Regions with the possibility of 
becoming autonomous with respect to 23 subjects. Among these, small 
things like international relations and relations with the European 
Union of the regions; protection and safety at work; instruction; 
scientific and technological research and support for innovation for 
production sectors; health protection; diet; valorisation of cultural 
and environmental assets; general rules on education and protection of 
the environment, ecosystem and cultural heritage. The Calderoli bill 
continues, in fact, on the path opened by the reform of Title V of the 
2001 Constitution which had already had a strong impact on the health 
system and school system and pursues the same objective: to establish a 
regulatory framework, however confused and wide, to start devolution 
processes.

     The recent past must teach us something. We see the effects on 
healthcare of the "competition" between the State and the Regions every 
day and, in the time of COVID, we have seen the most dramatic results. A 
good concise summary is given by Nino Cartabellotta: "the reform of 
Title V which[...]aimed at a supportive federalism, ended up generating 
a regionalist drift, with 21 different health systems where access to 
health services and benefits is profoundly diverse and inequitable." It 
is difficult to dispute this statement and, from the point of view of us 
citizens, even more difficult to understand why the State does not 
actively intervene in the most difficult situations (let us remember 
this when we talk about LEP). Education and professional training also 
fit into the framework determined by the reform of Title V, which should 
complete the set of rules that accompanied the so-called "School 
Autonomy". In Presidential Decree no. 275/99 (establishing school 
autonomy), "the single autonomous school" is presented as a "guarantee 
of freedom of teaching and cultural pluralism and takes the form of the 
planning and implementation of education, training and instruction 
interventions aimed at development of the human person, adapted to 
different contexts, to the demands of families and to the specific 
characteristics of the subjects involved, in order to guarantee their 
educational success etc. etc." A quarter of a century after that law, 
the results are truly exceptional: staff are increasingly stressed and 
poorly paid, temporary workers make up at least a fifth of the workforce 
working in schools, budget laws year after year take away resources from 
education, we continue to be at the bottom of the list in OECD countries 
for education spending in relation to GDP, almost half of our students, 
on the threshold of graduating from high school, are unable to 
understand the meaning of an article. When it suits it, however, the 
central state intervenes and makes itself heard: it requires the use of 
PNRR funds for the purchase of digital media and furniture to encourage 
"innovative learning"; and the current minister Valditara, in just over 
a year, has forcefully entered into various issues concerning schools 
and which were not to his liking. We could mention many other aspects 
that make the presumed school autonomy a screen behind which to hide a 
real fact: the progressive disengagement of the State from fundamental 
but burdensome sectors such as school and healthcare. In the Calderoli 
bill there is talk of differentiated autonomy but it should read: 
further profiteering of the sector, further draining of funds towards 
private schools, further splitting of the country in two, a rich part 
(increasingly richer) and a poor part ( increasingly poor) in perfect 
coherence with growing economic inequality. Anything but "school of the 
Republic"!

    What can we expect, therefore, if the Calderoli project goes 
through, if not something worse? The Italian school does not need to 
"regionalize", to diversify school programs, funds for financing 
education, employment contracts (and to pass the staff on to the Region, 
it is not known with what consequences on their careers) . The text of 
the decree ensures that the LEP (Essential Performance Levels) will be 
guaranteed but it is a beautiful fairy tale that we don't believe. For 
differentiated autonomy, the classic "zero cost" rule will apply: the 
application of the law and each agreement must not result in new or 
greater burdens on public finances. Which means that all the 
high-sounding words we quoted in the introduction are rubbish and the 
real purpose of the DDL is to provide another regulatory support to the 
processes of dismantling the school and its subservience to the market.

Giovanna lo Presti

https://www.sicilialibertaria.it/
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