The school board of the Iqbal Masih state school in Pioltello, which confirmed during yesterday's meeting the choice to close on April 10, the end of Ramadan, asks "that a choice born spontaneously within us be respected, on the basis of 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 Body".
And in a note he announces for May 21st, "World Day of Cultural Diversity", a dialogue "on the themes of inclusion, interaction between cultures and comparison between religions".
"We now ask, as representatives of the parents - asks the Institute Council in a long note -, the teachers and the Ata staff that we can return to living the School with peace of mind".
The school board reviews what happened and explains that the irregularities detected by the inspectors on March 18 concerned the fact that there were "four days of suspension of lessons compared to the maximum of three days", and then the fact that the resolution of the Region does not provide for the possibility of bringing forward the start of lessons to compensate (which they had chosen to do in Pioltello) and "the absence of express didactic reasons in the resolution of the Institute Council for the days of suspension".
For this reason, on 25 March the Teaching Board "unanimously of those present, one hundred and ninety-two teachers" approved the proposal to the Institute Council to suspend lessons for 10 and 26 April 2024, in both cases taking into account the high rate of absences in the two days "which compromises the effective carrying out of the planned teaching and educational activities, also in coherence with the educational choices".
The invitation now is to focus on what the school has been doing for years: from free support activities to pupils who have more problems (for example with Italian literacy workshops, homework support in the afternoon, remedial courses and extra-curricular professional workshops, to those always free enhancement courses such as Latin courses, English, French and Spanish courses for certifications, native speaker conversations but also mathematics, Italian and English enhancement courses) and initiatives such as drama therapy, theater projects, creation of musicals and murals and other activities support for personal development, which includes psychomotricity, motivational mentoring, screening of learning disabilities, school orientation and "cultural mediation" activities to allow positive interaction between the various cultures present.
The Council claims the results of the Invalsi tests "can still be improved but which in recent years place our students, in a test with a score on a scale of 200, well over 20 points above ESCS schools of the same context in Mathematics and English, in line with the other schools in Italian, also given the high number of NAI students".
The conclusion is with a quote from Mahatma Gandhi: "Our ability to achieve unity in diversity will be the beauty and test of our civilization."
In Pioltello the school will close for the end of Ramadan
A closure decided to avoid empty classrooms and hours spent without carrying out the program, given a school year that started a day early.
It is with the sole "educational and non-religious choice" that the school board of the Iqbal Masih of Pioltello, in the Milan area, voted again unanimously to close it on the occasion of the celebration for the end of Ramadan, on April 10th.
The choice therefore fell on the revision of the resolution for the suspension of lessons, declared irregular by the regional school office last week.
The change concerned the underlining of the sole didactic motivation underlying the decision, linked to the numerous foreseeable absences, defined as incomplete in the first draft by the Minister of Education Giuseppe Valditara himself.
Around 7pm today, the teaching council of the comprehensive institute which welcomes around 1300 students, including elementary and middle school, voted first, followed by the approval of the institute council.
The first resolution to be contested at the highest levels was voted on in May 2023. When the news became public following the declaration of the Northern League MEP Silvia Sardone, the case became the subject of heated political exchanges.
The same happened among the parents of the students who attend Masih, some absolutely agree with the suspension of lessons, others decidedly against, without this being linked to their respective religious faith.
Even the three parish priests of Pioltello, two days ago, in a letter defined the choice of school as "legitimate and consistent with the characteristics of the local reality".
However, the inspectors sent by the ministry had found technical defects in the resolution, including the absence of an educational motivation, which would have justified its validity.
The head teacher Alessandro Fanfoni, who had been subjected to insults and threats for a week, was then asked to "evaluate the non-application of the resolution and the possibility of its annulment".
Today the school board has therefore filled those "gaps", effectively responding to the sender's complaints.
Outside the Institute, representatives of the Flc, CGIL and Milan Chamber of Labor unions gathered in support of the teachers and the council.
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