TO September school started again as if nothing had happened. As if, in the previous two years, there hadn’t been Covid, distance learning, masks, stamps on the floor to mark the distance. But something has nevertheless changed, and the Italians are aware of it. The survey proves it Italians and juvenile educational poverty. How much future do we lose? promoted by the social enterprise With the children as part of the Fund for the fight against child educational poverty and created by the Demopolis institute for the International Day of the Rights of the Child and Adolescent, on November 20th.
In Naples, in the Sanità district, two little girls take part in the playful activities of the San Gennaro Community Foundation. The image is part of the photographic exhibition States of childhood – Journey to a growing country, a project by Riccardo Venturi, currently underway at the Museum of Rome in Trastevere.
For 68% of respondents, school has resumed as in the pre-pandemic period without resolving its usual problems. Which? In order: structures too old, few remedial activities for children in difficulty, teacher motivation (but they don’t think so), early school leaving, student motivation. As for the dispersion, the perception, for 59%, is that it has increased in the last two years. According to the Italians, the root of this phenomenon is the fragility of the family of origin; almost 3 out of 4 are convinced, and it is a significant fact. In second place is the inadequacy of the school in recovery strategies, then the failings of local institutions.
Educational poverty: if failures are not enough
In the last school year, between a closure and a reopening, there have been 80 thousand failures due to too many absences. An alarming figure, to be addressed urgently for 67%. Even if, for the majority, these rejections were a right decision.
As for what worries adults, baby gangs come first, with 76%, while in the second, with a strong growing trend, the dependence on smartphones and tablets. The social alarm created by undoubtedly dangerous juvenile delinquency phenomena is striking, but fortunately still marginal in numbers. And the blaming of devices is also striking, which also, in the darkest period of the pandemic, helped to avoid the isolation of adults and children, and somehow made up for the closure of schools (let us always ask ourselves what would have happened if the pandemic had erupted twenty years ago). Also growing there concern about poor school learning, which affects 62% of respondents.
A laboratory in nature for children organized in Biella as part of the Community School. The image is part of the photographic exhibition States of childhood – Journey to a growing country, a project by Riccardo Venturi, currently underway at the Museum of Rome in Trastevere.
The fear of baby gangs
To stem the baby gangs that frighten Italians so much, first of all, parents should have more control over their childrenso that children had more access to extracurricular recreational activities. For 53 percent, however, greater supervision of the forces of order would also be useful. The need for security is there and felt.
But more police is not enough. Italians realize that cities are not suitable for children, that there is a lack of sports facilities, schools and recreational activities. For 74 per cent, inequalities have increased in the last two years: few can take advantage of these services that everyone should have and which are very important for growth. through extracurricular experiences, in fact, the sense of responsibility, team spirit, self-esteem, civic sense are cemented.
But who is responsible for raising a child? 85% believe that responsibility lies not only with the family, but with the whole community, and it is a rapidly growing trend, as Marco Rossi Doria, president of Con i Bambini, points out. “Awareness of the role of educating communities is growing enormously, or rather of a widespread and shared responsibility for the growth of our girls and boys, and of the need not to leave behind those and those who live in the poorest areas”.
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