Valditara: "Strategy to fill the delays of the South and multiply the opportunities for our kids"
Today in Catanzaro, at the Citadel of the Calabria Region, the Minister of Education and Merit Giuseppe Valditara presented the Agenda Sud: a MIM project aimed at the Regions of Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise, Puglia, Sardinia and Sicily .
The interventions of the Agenda Sud are designed to overcome the territorial gap between Northern and Southern Italy, guaranteeing equal educational opportunities for students throughout the national territory. The goal is to combat early school leaving starting from primary school, with targeted interventions on institutions in the South. The pilot project will have a two-year duration, covering the years 2023/2024 and 2024/2025, and will be applied in 150 schools in the South identified by INVALSI (National Institute for the Evaluation of the Education and Training System), with the expectation of extend it to many others.
“Today, from an extraordinary land like Calabria, we send a message to the South and to all of Italy. It is unacceptable to continue reading reports on schools that give such different results between the South and the rest of the country. The PNRR has already intervened with important resources but today we are going further, with a strategy to combat early school leaving. We are embarking on a path that will multiply the opportunities for our young people and allow us to make the most of the intelligence we have, to make Italy increasingly a point of reference in Europe and in the world. Today we are taking a further step to reunify Italy”, declared Minister Giuseppe Valditara.
The institutions involved are 50 primary schools, 50 lower secondary schools and 50 lower secondary schools and were chosen by Invalsi on the basis of data relating to school dropout rates, dropout rates during the year, absences, weakness in learning outcomes , socio-economic context. Work is underway to extend the trial to further institutes. With the Plan, models will be tested and good practices will be created which can be generalized in other areas of Southern Italy.
The Agenda is based on the principle of personalization of teaching, in order to focus on the needs of male and female students, through orientation and tutoring activities also extended to the first cycle and in line with the Guidelines for orientation and family support activities. Innovative and laboratory teaching will be promoted, with the introduction of new methodologies, schools open all day, activities even during the suspension of lessons, more flexible hours, strengthening of full-time and school canteens.
The workforce of teachers in lower and upper secondary schools will be strengthened in the basic subjects: Italian, mathematics and English (an average of 4 more teachers per school) and teachers will be paid for additional assignments beyond school hours. Invalsi will support the 150 schools, also with the training of teachers on orientation teaching, planning, use of data to improve learning outcomes.
Special training offer projects will be activated, in agreement with the Presidents of the Region and the local realities, to fully exploit the potential of the areas concerned.
PNRR investments: 2,5 billion for schools in the South
From November 2022 to today, the MIM has authorized and released investments of 2,5 billion euros for the Mezzogiorno to implement the projects of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).
For school gymnasiums, 77,9 million went to the southern regions; 608,2 million went to schools in the South for safety measures; with the "School 4.0" plan, 693,9 million; for the fight against early school leaving, 255,8 million; for STEM subjects and orientation, 300 million; for the training of school personnel, 180 million have been assigned to the institutions of the South; 464,3 million went to the ITS Academy of the South.
The live video
The video of the Minister's speech