Benevento and the surrounding Sannio province sit well below the national average for pupils with non-Italian citizenship, even as Italy's Council of Ministers has approved a new school decree that introduces a 30% cap in certain first-year classes.
In the province of Benevento, pupils with non-Italian citizenship accounted for 3.3% of total enrolments in the 2024/25 school year. The highest local share reported was in lower secondary school, where the figure reached 4%.
The national picture is markedly different. In 2024/25, pupils with non-Italian citizenship numbered 931,323 in Italy, equal to 11.6% of the school population. In lower secondary school nationwide, the share was 12.6%.
That contrast matters for readers in Benevento: the local overall share is less than one-third of the national average, while the local lower-secondary peak of 4% remains far below the corresponding national figure of 12.6%.
What the decree would do
The measure approved by the Council of Ministers is a decree-law on schools that includes, among other provisions, a 30% ceiling in specific first-year classes.
The cap is not a blanket limit applied to every pupil with non-Italian citizenship. According to the available reporting, it concerns pupils who do not have adequate knowledge of Italian, with eligibility tied to factors such as birth abroad, attendance at Italian preschool, and years of successful attendance within the national education system.
The decree also links the classroom measure to personalized Italian-language courses, with reported funding of more than 14 million euros. Possible exemptions accompanied by Italian courses are part of the framework described in national coverage.
Who is actually affected
The distinction between citizenship and the categories covered by the cap is important.
The 3.3% figure for Benevento and the 11.6% figure for Italy describe citizenship: pupils holding non-Italian citizenship. The 30% classroom limit is described as applying to narrower categories defined by language competence and schooling history.
That means the two percentages cannot be read as a direct measure of how many pupils would fall under the limit. A pupil with non-Italian citizenship who was born in Italy, attended Italian preschool, or has completed successful years in Italian schools would not necessarily be counted in the same way as a newly arrived pupil with limited Italian.
What to watch next
The final legislative text and its official publication were not yet available in the sources reviewed, so some implementation details may change.
In particular, the operational method for assessing Italian proficiency, the rules for exemptions, and how pupils would be distributed among nearby schools have not been clarified in the reporting to date. Families, school administrators, and local authorities in the Benevento area will need the implementing guidance to understand how first-year class composition, language courses, and any exemption procedure will work in practice.
