Valditara: “interventions in more than 2 thousand institutions in the South. The school becomes an educational hub and a garrison for the development of the territories"
“During the visit to Caivano this morning, with the Prime Minister Meloni and the ministers Piantedosi and Abodi, I presented the measures of the Southern Agenda Decree. These measures, which will also directly involve four schools in this Municipality and many others in situations of social hardship, concern over 2 thousand institutions and aim to make schools the fulcrum of local development, through a series of initiatives, including the inclusion of more teachers and, in anticipation, the strengthening of sanctions against those who do not send children in compulsory school. Caivano will represent a pilot project of Agenda Sud and will be supported and constantly monitored by the Ministry; I myself will return in a month to verify the progress of this change, in the sign of the Great Alliance between institutions, schools, families and students": these are the words of the Minister of Education and Merit Giuseppe Valditara after the visit to Caivano.
The ministerial decree signed yesterday aims to implement an overall plan for the reduction of territorial and learning gaps: it involves over 2 thousand schools in the South and will be financed with 265,5 million euros, for the following activities:
- contrast to dispersion and reduction of gaps in learning;
- strengthening of basic and transversal skills;
- remuneration for additional hours for school staff involved in implementing educational projects;
- laboratory activities (sport, theatre, music, citizenship education and respect, etc.) for the opening of schools after school hours.
- Opening of the school to the territory
- Extension of school time in the afternoon
Particular attention will be paid to 245 schools (including the 4 schools of the first cycle of Caivano) identified by INVALSI on the basis of national surveys, for which further measures are envisaged:
- additional teachers for lower and lower secondary schools (about 4/5 teachers for each school);
- constant accompaniment and support by the Ministry through Indire and Invalsi;
- specific teacher training
- family involvement
- innovative teaching and laboratory
- enhancement of sports activities
A forthcoming decree-law will provide for measures to strengthen the sanctions to combat the evasion of compulsory schooling and specific resources, both to enhance mobility experiences for students on the Erasmus model to encourage comparisons with other contexts, and to equip schools in contexts characterized by educational fragility of additional administrative staff and incentives for teaching staff.
Furthermore, the adopted Agenda Sud plan already provides for a special fund to finance network projects for areas and contexts with greater educational disadvantage: the Caivano pilot project will be financed specifically with 1 million euros and will involve the four schools of the first cycle: IC2 De Gasperi, IC Cilea-Mameli, IC3 Parco Verde and IC Milani, also providing additional teachers in these schools. Also in Caivano, another 560 thousand euros will be allocated to the fight against school dropouts and territorial gaps.
An agreement will also be signed with the Delphinia multifunctional center in collaboration with the Minister of Sport, so that the facility will also be made available to schools.
In addition to these interventions, the Ministry of Education and Merit has also allocated resources within the framework of the PNRR for the construction of 2 new nursery schools and for the redevelopment of 2 gymnasiums, as well as over 1,3 million to renovate the classrooms, laboratories and teaching environments with interventions that therefore aim, underlined the Minister, "to have more welcoming and innovative schools, making them places of serenity for students".
“Our intention is to make schools effective poles and educational hubs, oversights for the development of territories connected with other schools, bodies, institutions, associations of the third sector: a real network thanks to which it will be possible to activate, also thanks to additional teachers in the areas most at risk and with greater support even in the curricular hours, actions of psychological and socio-educational support throughout the course of study, personalized training, orientation and accompaniment courses. In particular, social and psychological support actions will be financed for those children from particularly fragile contexts most at risk of dispersion. In addition, an action to raise awareness on gender equality issues will be implemented, including through the adoption of a specific ministerial circular”, concluded Minister Valditara.