School students are protesting and occupying schools across Italy in protest against the school system, including the fact that many lessons remain online, structural problems in school buildings, and against obligatory work placements in the last three years of school. The death on Friday (21st of January 2022) of Lorenzo Parelli, an eighteen year old boy who was crushed by a metal bar while on a school training placement at a factory, has angered students across the country and added further fuel to the protests. On the same day seven other workers died in work accidents in Italy.
In the internship system, students are obliged to work unpaid for businesses in their last three years of school, with those at the more academic licei schools having to do 200 hours of work and students in technical schools having to do 400 hours in the same period. Protests by school students in Rome over the weekend met with a heavy response from the police. Clashes between students and cops were reported. A new school student group in Rome called La Lupa helps with the nation-wide communication between schools.
School occupations are taking place across the country, including 200 students occupying a liceo in Bologna, where they are holding alternative lessons with speakers from various political groups. At the liceo 200 out of 1,600 students participate actively in the occupation. An interesting aspect is that they raise particular local demands, such as the re-opening of the school garden, the repair of a faulty heating system and the installation of solar-panels.
