School begins with black mourning bands

The daily La Repubblica praises the peaceful protest staged by the country's teachers against the school reform, which foresees a return to school uniforms, marking for behaviour and a single teacher for all subjects in primary schools. "Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini wanted them in Stalin-red but the teachers refused to fall for the ploy and donned black mourning bands instead. ... It seems to us that the Minister is very misguided in claiming that with their black bands the teachers are using the children in the battle against her [measures]. This raises the suspicion that she herself is using the children as a rhetorical refuge after her first defeat ... The Minister is hoping desperately for mass demonstrations so she can say that the Italian school system is full of communists. She needs them, too, to come to grips with the schools considering the drivel spouted by Lega Nord (Northern League) boss Umberto Bossi, the country's culture policy, the scalpel being used for economic cuts and the demolition of the alleged cultural pre-eminence. Let us hope that this imaginative and effective form of protest teaches them a lesson."

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