No 133

Dear Visitor,
We welcome your interest in the current events affecting the Italian Public Education system. Through this website, we hope to spread information to a more international audience.

The Italian government severely cut back on already limited national education funds. The OECD report states that Italy sets aside only 0.9% of its GDP, compared to an average of 1.5% of GDP across all other countries considered in the report. (read more on the OECD report, “Education at a glance 2007”)

On June 25, 2008, the Council of Ministers and President Berlusconi (collectively, the Italian executive branch) declared the decree law 112/08 in light of difficult economic conditions. On August 6, the decree law went into effect as Law 133/08.

Description
Sections of Law 133/08 affecting Italian university students:

Article 64 - Eliminates nearly 8 billion euros (more than 10 billion US dollars) of funding for elementary schools. Such a measurement will limit hiring of new teachers, making it much more difficult for recent graduates to find teaching positions;
Article 66 - Severely cuts back university staff: only one new professor will be hired for every five who retire. University funding will be reduced by 1.4 billion euros (about 1.8 billion US dollars) over the next five years and many untenured university faculty members will be dismissed;

Ramifications
Italy has already been plagued by an exodus of intellectuals. The country invests little in its higher education system, unjustly and unwisely forcing many individuals in academia to have to choose between their country and their research. The nation cannot support this disregard for the importance of public education. Universities already strained to support their student body will only suffer further under these funding restrictions. Proposed reforms jeopardize the objectivity and impartiality of university research through the introduction of private research donors. The possibility of increased tuition fees threatens to render education a luxury for upper-class. Education is an investment in a nation’s future. From elementary to university level, education is invaluable. Law 133/08 is an outrage to the people of Italy.

Public Response
The Italian government cleverly chose to pass such measurements out of view of the public eye during the summer holidays. It was not until late September and early October as students returned to school that they became aware of this new law. Assemblies have been held in elementary schools and universities across the country to spread the word about this new legislation. As Italians became conscious of the situation at hand, they turned to various methods to make their voices heard: students have been handing out informative fliers, some teachers have started teaching their lessons in the city squares instead of within the university, and many students have boycotted shops in protest. The majority of University Rectors have expressed their discontent with the law. Millions of people have marched in peaceful protest in the streets from early morning until nightfall, including pre-eminent Italian scholars such as Umberto Eco, a Nobel Laureate in Literature, and Margherita Hack, a famous Italian astrophysicist.

Italian President Berlusconi (who has influence over six of the public cable channels) and the Italian mass media are trying to discredit the student protests, labeling them as an orchestration of Left-wing extremists and communists. Italian people who are not directly affected by the law can be easily manipulated by the biased media.

Our Purpose
The aim of this web site is to give people around the world a chance to better understand the actual situation in Italy regarding public education funds. As such, we provide a list of links to:

Articles from press websites in all major European languages describing the delicate situation in Italy today;
Websites which provide clarifications on the law, updates on new proposals for the law, and reports of protests occurring in different cities across the country;
Websites that show photos and videos of the protests.

We hope you take advantage of these resources to gather information and form your own opinion. We ask you to support this initiative by passing this website on to people you know.

Thank you for your interest.

If you see an error message instead of the link list follow this link.

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English

The Guardian - Shock to the system - October 21th 2008
“Budget cuts and reforms in Italian education have unleashed a wave of protests…”
(read more)

The Economist - Schools out - October 16th 2008
“Plans to reform the Italian school system run into criticism…”
(read more)

Nature - Cut-throat savings - October 16th 2008
“In an attempt to boost its struggling economy, Italy’s government is focusing on easy, but unwise, targets…”
(read more)

Global Project - Hands off schools and universities. We won’t pay for your crisis! - October 23rd 2008
“[…] Everywhere the blocks of lessons and the blockades of traffic by students are multiplying, with spontaneous assemblies in each university, department […]”
(read more)

RiZoMa - Appeal of students, researchers, professors and Italian citizens to salvage their own fundamental rights - October 27th 2008
“Nobody can deny the necessity of a reform. A reform that prevents waste and personal […] They are mere budget cuts curtailing funds which are already dangerously slim, and which will not only jeopardize the already precarious future of researchers and teacher […]”
(read more)

The Guardian - Retribution and revenge - November 24th 2008
“[…] The security forces should massacre the demonstrators without pity, and send them all to hospital. They shouldn’t arrest them, because the magistrates would release them immediately, but they should beat them up. And they should also beat up those teachers who stir them up […]”
(read more)

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French

Le Monde - La rentrée de Mme Gelmini, «femme de tête» du gouvernement Berlusconi - September 14th 2008
“Elle a connu ses premiers sifflets. Elle devrait connaître bientôt les premières manifestations et les premières grèves contre sa réforme de l’éducation, qui entre en vigueur dès cette rentrée des classes.”
(read more)

Euronews - Branle-bas de combat contre la réforme de l’éducation - October 16th 2008
“Manifestations, occupations d’universités et bientôt une nuit blanche pour défendre le système éducatif italien.”
(read more)

Libération - Berlusconi attise le terrain social - November 15th 2008
“[…] la suite de la réforme de l’enseignement, présentée par la ministre de l’Instruction, Mariastella Gelmini, qui devrait se traduire à terme par la suppression de 87 000 postes […]”
(read more)

Rue 89 - En Italie, la colère ne faiblit pas contre la réforme de l’éducation - November 1st 2008
“L’Italie n’en finit plus de se déchirer depuis que le gouvernement Berlusconi, via sa ministre de l’Education Mariastella Gelmini, a entrepris de "réformer" l’école et l’université […]”
(read more)

Le Point - Italie: grève générale et manifestation massive contre la réforme scolaire - October 30th 2008
“[…] des coupes de plus de 9 milliards d’euros et plus de 130.000 suppressions d’emplois.”
(read more)

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German

Der Standard - Berlusconi will bei der Bildung sparen - October 9th 2008
“Italien: Berlusconi will bei der Bildung sparen”
(read more)

Der Standard - Italien: Schlechte Aussichten - October 17th 2008
“Als viel verstörender wird die Unverfrorenheit empfunden, mit der die Regierung vorgeht”
(read more)

TAZ - Italiens Niedergang - October 30th 2008
“Berlusconi und seine Getreuen entziehen dem Bildungssystem den Boden und führen damit vor, wie sie demnächst Forschung und Opposition den Garaus machen werden […] Dies hat den schönen Nebeneffekt, dass das Unterrichtsministerium so binnen drei Jahren 8 Milliarden Euro einsparen könnte, weil knapp 90.000 Lehrerstellen wegfallen”
(read more)

Tages Anzeiger - Berlusconi lässt sich ein wenig belehren - November 4th 2008
“[…] Auch an den Universitäten regiert künftig der Rotstift von Berlusconis Finanzminister Giulio Tremonti. Allein im kommenden Jahr will dieser 700 Millionen Euro streichen und langfristig Tausende von Dozenten- und Professorenstellen nicht mehr neu besetzen […]”
(read more)

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Spanish

El Pais - Berlusconi suprimirá 50.000 plazas de maestros - October 4th 2008
“El primer ministro de Italia, Silvio Berlusconi, planea suprimir a partir de 2009 la mayor parte de las plazas de maestros de asignaturas especializadas…”
(read more)

El Pais - Guerra educativa en Italia - October 4th 2008
“La “reforma Gelmini”, que prevé recortar 8.000 millones de euros y el despido de decenas de miles de profesores, indigna a estudiantes y sindicatos”
(read more)

La Jornada - Protestas en Italia por plan educativo - October 18th 2008
“…En Milán, Bolonia, Roma o Nápoles, centenares de miles de alumnos protestaron contra “las escuelas públicas como fantasmas”, a la vez que los universitarios se manifestaron contra las medidas de ahorro en la educación superior”
(read more)

El Pais - La huelga de estudiantes paraliza Italia - October 31st 2008
“Más de un millón de personas salen a la calle contra la Ley de Educación”
(read more)

El Pais - La protesta de los estudiantes eleva la tensión en Italia - October 23rd 208
“Berlusconi afirma que no tolerará las ocupaciones de colegios y universidades”
(read more)

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