As demographic crisis bites, Italy cuts school staff

ROME – Italy’s government is cutting back on teachers and janitors as the country’s plunging birth rate reduces the number of children in classrooms, prompting protests from unions, principals and opposition parties.“Demographic decline is real, a very serious problem. But it cannot be used as an excuse to further weaken our public education system,” Mario Rusconi from principals’ association ANP told la Repubblica daily on Nov 2.The Italian education ministry was not immediately available for comment.The draft 2027 budget law, approved by the Cabinet last week, says staffing levels should fall by 4,925 units for teachers and 2,049 units for non-teaching staff, starting from the 2027-2028 school year.It also introduces a 75% cap on public sector hires to replace retiring staff, which according to government estimates, should produce savings of €336 million (S$482 million) over 2027-2028.The measures add to previous cuts from the 2025 budget law, which reduced school staffing levels by 5,660 units for teachers starting from 2025-2026, and by 2,174 for non-teaching staff from 2026-2027.Falling student numbersItaly is facing one of the worst demographic crises in Europe, with inevitable repercussions on its student population.Pupils in primary and secondary schools fell from 8.4 million in 2017-2018 to 7.7 million in 2024-2025, official data shows.“The decline in student enrolment should be an opportunity to reduce class sizes and improve the quality of education. Instead, staffing levels continue to be cut, compounding the difficulties of a system already burdened by precarious employment,” the UIL trade union said.Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s rightist government has little room for extra spending, constrained by European Union deficit limits and soaring energy costs which weigh on a slow-growing economy and have pushed inflation to 5.6% in October.Her government, facing an election in 2027, is also facing street protests over the cost-of-living crisis which have in some cases turned violent and have partly been animated by students demanding more investment in schools and universities. REUTERS