Public schools need new forms of funding, also to cover teachers' salaries that could be subject to regional differentiation.
And to find them, we could open up to private funding.
This was stated by the Minister of Education and Merit Giuseppe Valditara at the dialogue platform promoted by PwC and the Gedi group “Italy 2023: people, work, business” in a speech reported by La Repubblica.
The principals say yes. Increase salaries for school staff living in the north “it's a pretty sensible measure”: Mario Rusconi, head of the ANP principals in Rome, told ANSA, quoting the words of Minister Valditara. As for the entry of private individuals into schools, "this already happens, especially in high schools and vocational schools. We need to see the conditions in which the private sector enters, but schools need funds, the resources available to local authorities are not many. And schools should have the status of Foundations to have speed in carrying out the work and save costs".
Need “finding new roadsand – explains Valditara -, even experimental ones, of synergy between the production system, civil society and schools, to finance education, in addition to the government's effort" he explained. To avoid the risk of finding many companies willing to finance the institutes only in some territories, creating irreparable disparities for public schools, according to the minister the solution is “the creation of a centralized and ministerial equalization fund that allows us, with the funds attracted for a high school in Brescia, to also finance one in Palermo or a professional institute in Caserta”. According to Valditara “we must have the courage to remove education and research from the constraints of Maastricht”.
Furthermore “those who live and work in a region of Italy where the cost of living is higher could earn more”. However, even with differentiated autonomy “I don’t think the national contract will be touched.”
The teachers “they must be in sufficient number, have adequate training and guarantee educational continuity. We will launch a major recruitment drive – he underlines -. We have already met with the unions. It is a matter of weeks“. In the future of education according to Valditara there is also room for artificial intelligence, of which "we must not be afraid, we just have to govern it, otherwise it becomes a risk. Teachers, however – reassures – they will not be replaced by robots.”
According to Rusconi, an experiment could be started with the 'Foundation-schools' for a three-year period. Returning to the topic of the high cost of living in the north “many teachers – says the school principal – they find jobs in the regions but they don't accept because the cost of living is too high; it's a measure that should be extended to other employees. It's a problem that Italy has an economy with very different costs of living, plus those who work in the north have the costs of commuting, because at least twice a month they go to visit their family in the south. Certainly, a specific union negotiation would be needed on this issue", concludes Rusconi.
“Valditara throws off the mask and describes to those who still have some doubts the model that this government wants to implement: the school of inequalities – thus the group leaders of the 5 Star Movement in the Education Commission of the Senate and the Chamber Luca Pirondini and Anna Laura Orrico -. Guaranteeing higher salaries in the North because the cost of living is higher has nothing to do with merit, nor does it take into account the enormous efforts that many teachers make in disadvantaged contexts, where school represents the main democratic stronghold. As for opening the doors to private money through sponsorships, we are aware of the chronic lack of resources, but this cannot lead to solutions that risk increasing the gap not only between North and South, but also between center and periphery and between large and small centers. Valditara's plan worries us: his plan is exactly what we contested in Parliament and his words are proving us right. We will see the concrete moves he will put in place but one thing is certain: the 5 Star Movement will be alongside the world of school to counter the inegalitarian, privatistic and ideological drifts of this government".
A rejection also comes from the Flc Cgil. "The idea of introducing differentiated salaries by Region based on the cost of living is totally crazy, it takes us back 50 years, to salary cages; if anything, there is a problem that concerns all school personnel: the minister should finance the collective contract that now has zero resources. The combined effect of the entry of private individuals and the disarticulation of the contractual system is the destruction of public schools, it is the worst thing that can be done". We are ready to mobilize in any way if this is confirmed as a proposal", said the secretary of Flc Cgil, Francesco Sinopoli.
Article published on 26 January 2023 - 13:00
