The MIM replies: "Government intervention allows for more autonomous schools"
With regard to the political controversies raised on the issue of school sizing in Campania, the Ministry of Education and Merit specifies the following:
- the Region refers to the sizing criterion which allows the exclusive assignment of school principals and directors of general and administrative services to schools with at least 500 students (300 if located on small islands, in mountain municipalities or in geographical areas characterized by linguistic specificities) . This is a provisional criterion, as an exception to the normal parameter of 600/400 pupils, introduced to deal with the pandemic for the 2021/2022, 2022/2023, 2023/2024 school years and which, after this period, will no longer have financial coverage (law of 30/12/2020 n. 178 and law of 30/12/2021 n. 234).
- In the 2022/2023 school year, Campania has the highest number of schools below the ordinary parameters: 108 out of 617 nationwide. The Region will have the same primacy in 2023/2024, with 102 schools out of 644 nationwide under the parameters. Therefore, the planning of the school network in Campania has been carried out in recent years without paying the necessary attention to limiting the number of undersized schools.
- According to ISTAT data on the population aged 3-18 (an element that the Region seems to ignore) Campania will be affected by a severe drop in pupils: in 2024 -17.239 and in 2025 -19.456, for a total of 36.695 fewer students. The drop, combined with the ordinary parameter 600/400 which would be operational again in 2024/2025, would have given Campania 832 standard-sized schools.
- With respect to this figure, in line with the provisions of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), a government plan was implemented by applying, first of all, corrective indices which determined the number of autonomous educational institutions in Campania at 839, with an increase of 7 units. Furthermore, the Region has been given the possibility of defining the network of institutes without minimum dimensional constraints, in order to preserve the autonomy of even small schools which, otherwise, would have been entrusted to the regency on a permanent basis.
- Finally, it is important to underline that the closure of any school complex has not been foreseen, since the currently existing service delivery points have been preserved.