Circular No. 247, March 23, 2023 - “Marco Polo” Technical Institute for Tourism in Florence

The relationship between education freedom and religious freedom is of undoubted complexity within the framework of the educational, organizational, research and development autonomy of schools (Art. 4 et seq. of Presidential Decree No. 275 of 1999).

Bringing attention back to the issue of guaranteeing freedom rights within schools is the recent case involving the “Marco Polo” Technical Institute for Tourism in Florence.

In Circular No. 247 of March 23, 2023 the institute’s headmaster, following the request of some Muslim students, introduced the possibility of performing the prayer provided for in the rituals of Ramadan during school hours. Specifically, it was stipulated that «from March 27 until the end of Ramadan itself, during the second interval, from 11:35 to 11:45 a.m., students of the Muslim faith may go to the Angela Fiume Classroom [...] and to the Liberamente Classroom» (Circular No. 247 of March 23, 2023 of the “Marco Polo” Technical Institute for Tourism in Florence).

The circular, which introduces for the first time the possibility of using school spaces as prayer rooms for Muslim students, appears of undoubted interest from the point of view of guaranteeing religious pluralism in Italian public schools.

In this direction of protection of specific identities, moreover, the headmaster’s decision does not seem to deviate in fact from the various and previous school circulars that - while always respecting the individual choices of pupils and their families - have, for example, sometimes concerned the preparation of moments of prayer in view of the beginning or conclusion of the school year (ex plurimis, cf. Circular No. 24 of 2016 of the State Comprehensive Institute “Via Dante” in Carpenedolo; Circular No. 412 of May 03, 2022 of the State Comprehensive Institute “A.B. Sabin” of Segrate); other times, the provision of leaving school during the lunch break to allow the observance of Ramadan for students of the Islamic faith (ex plurimis, see Circular No. 203 of March 03, 2023 of the State Comprehensive Institute “Koiné” of Monza; Circular No. 74 of March 20, 2023 of the State Comprehensive Institute “Breda” of Sesto San Giovanni); at other times, the participation of all students in moments of interfaith prayer, as an important «occasion of cultural unity in the sign of the breaking down of all social and religious barriers» (ex plurimis, cf. Circular No. 58 of December 13, 2017 of the State Comprehensive Institute “D. Cimarosa” of Aversa).

Such organizational and didactic practices can certainly be considered indicative of the peculiar contribution of headmasters and teachers in promoting a school culture that is effectively inclusive. From this point of view, even the innovative circular of the Technical Institute for Tourism “Marco Polo” in Florence can help guide actions of 'renewal' of teaching, as well as of active participation and mutual exchange among all students, which consider the increasingly multireligious and multicultural context of the Italian school in a perspective of protection and enhancement of diversity.

Source: https://www.ittmarcopolo.edu.it

Caterina Gagliardi