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Italian students stage nationwide protests against work experience after deaths

Saturday, 19 February 2022 12:46 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 19 February 2022 12:46 AM ]

Max Civili

Press TV, Rome

On Friday, school pupils held protests in over 40 cities across Italy demanding the government to put an end to obligatory work placements in the last three years of school.

The demonstrations were staged after a student, 16-year-old Giuseppe Lenoci, died in a road accident on Monday while he was on board a truck for a school-work internship.

Last month another student, 18-year-old Lorenzo Perrelli, was crushed to death by a steel girder of 150 kg while working in an internship for a private company.

About 3,000 students gathered in central Rome demanding the government to remove the Education Minister and scrap obligatory work experience programs for high-school students introduced by former prime minister, Matteo Renzi, in 2015.

In Turin, tension and anger went out of control when a group of students tried to break into the local headquarters of industrial employers group, Confindustria, and were repelled by police with some batons being wielded; at least seven officers were hurt.

School dropout levels in Italy are among the highest in the EU. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the government quickly decided to make all learning remote as a result of which cases of social withdrawal and self-harm among young people are on the rise, healthcare professionals are warning.

In the past two years, especially in recent months, Italy has been the scene of protests across the country. Rallies have been held against deteriorating living conditions, mandatory vaccination, health passes and what protesters describe as the government’s mismanagement of the Covid pandemic.

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