Muslims in Europe: - International Institute - University of Michigan

Some of the new provisions have been criticized by opposition parties and a number of non-governmental
organizations as restrictive and discriminatory. Particular criticism was provoked by a provision requiring all
immigrants who apply for a residence permit to be finger-printed. In response, the Government proposed to extend
this requirement to include citizens as well. Other controversial provisions include: reduction of the period of
validity for residency permits from three to two years; the exclusion of those over 18 from the family reunification
program; and withdrawal of the residency permit in case of loss of ones job.
However, the effectiveness of the legal framework is apparently limited by low public awareness of its existence,
particularly among immigrant communities.
Italian immigration is mostly governed by the 2002 Bossi-Fini law. This law tightly controls entry and stay of
immigrants. Italy also accepts a very small number of refugees due to the vague laws, incompetent administration,
and the low likelihood of acceptance (IHF, 2005). An additional law in 2003 increased penalties for illegal
immigration, created more temporary detention centers and limited family reunification.
In Italy, laws ban the dissemination of ideas of racial superiority or ideas that are based on hatred on the basis of
race or ethnic origin and instigation to discriminatory or violent acts on the basis of race, ethnicity, nationality and
religion (Decree No.205/1993, Art.1).
After the London train bombings of 2005, the Italian legislature enacted a number of new laws intended to make it
easier to confront the threat of terrorism. These laws were criticized by various Muslim organizations for their focus
on after-the-fact remedies rather than action oriented towards preventing the problems from arising.
Islamic Education
There are neither legal nor political obstacles to full and equal access to education for all children, regardless of their
citizenship, national or religious status. The Constitution sets forth a general policy of full integration through the
educational system, stating that “schools shall be open to everyone.” Foreign children, regardless of their legal
status, have the same right to education (and the same compulsory education requirement) as Italian children.
Foreign children as well as Italian nationals may apply for enrolment at any time during the school year.
However, emerging patterns of lower than average attendance and achievement, and higher drop-out rates among
immigrant children, indicate that full and equal access to public education for all children in practice has yet to be
achieved.
As immigration is a relatively new phenomenon, there are still relatively few immigrants (including Muslim)
children in the educational system. Furthermore, there are no comprehensive data concerning school attendance
specifically for Muslim pupils.
The number of immigrant children attending school has dramatically increased over the past ten years, from 25,756
enrolled at the beginning of the 1990s to 162,774 in 2001 (with an annual growth of more than 28,000 students).
Among these, 20 percent attend kindergarten, 44 percent elementary school, 24 percent middle school, and 12
percent high school. African and Asian children represent 45 percent of immigrant schoolchildren.
In some regions the levels of integration of immigrants, including Muslim children, in schools have been very high.
For example, in the province of Turin almost 95 percent of immigrant children who are enrolled in elementary,
middle and high schools (irrespective of religious affiliation) regularly attend, although attendance decreases slightly
at the higher level of school (from 96.6 percent attendance in elementary schools to about 93 percent in middle
schools and in high schools).
However, official reports show that only a slight majority of foreign minors in the country as a whole attend school.
There is little research on the problems experienced by individual Muslim students in schools, although there is
some evidence that they experience certain discomfort vis-à-vis State educational establishments, with a negative
impact on attendance and academic progress. For example, according to studies conducted in Modena, Turin,
Brescia, Bologna, Genoa, Bari, Padova, Arezzo, and Ravenna, about one third of immigrant pupils expressed a wish
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