(Finance) – “During my visit to Caivano this morning, with Prime Minister Meloni and ministers Piantedosi and Abodi, I presented the measures of the Agenda Sud Decree. These measures, which will also directly involve four schools in this municipality and many others in situations of social hardship, concern over 2,000 institutions and aim to make the school the fulcrum of the development of the territories, through a series of initiatives, including the inclusion of more teachers and, in anticipation, the strengthening of sanctions against of those who do not send their children to 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 check the progress of this change, in the name of the Grand Alliance between institutions , school, families and students”. These are the words of Minister of Education and Merit Giuseppe Valditara after visit to Caivano.
The ministerial decree signed yesterday intends to implement a comprehensive plan for the reduction of territorial and learning gaps. The plan involves over 2,000 schools in the South and will be financed with 265.5 million euros, for the following activities: combating dispersion and reducing learning gaps; strengthening of basic and transversal skills; remuneration of the additional hours for the school personnel involved in the implementation of the educational projects; laboratory activities (sport, theatre, music, citizenship and respect education, 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 first cycle schools 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 training of teachers; involvement of families; innovative teaching and laboratory; enhancement of sports activities.
In a next decree-law – let the Ministry know in a note – they will be foreseen measures to strengthen the sanctions to combat the evasion of compulsory schooling And specific resourcesboth 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 with additional administrative staff and incentives for teaching staff.
Also, the Agenda Sud plan adopted already provides for a special fund to finance network projects for areas and contexts with greater educational disadvantage. The Caivano pilot project will be funded specifically with 1 million euros and will involve the four first-cycle schools: IC2 De Gasperi, IC Cilea-Mameli, IC3 Parco Verde and IC Milani, also providing for additional teachers in these schools. Always in Caivano others 560 thousand euros they will be devoted to the fight against early school leaving and territorial differences. A c will also be signedonvention with the Delphinia multifunctional centre in collaboration with the Minister of Sports, so that the structure is also made available to schools.
In addition to these interventions, the Ministry of Education and Merit has assigned resources within the PNRR also 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 aim, therefore, he underlined Valditara “to have more welcoming and innovative schools, making them places of serenity for students”.
“Our will – he explained Valditara – is to make schools effective poles and educational hubs, development presidia of the 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 areas most at risk and 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”.