Repubblika joins in the solidarity expressed by many with the teachers employed in government schools who have just been ordered to ask for the minister’s permission if they ever come to speak to the media. The new directive does not allow them to express any form of opinion if it is not to promote the minister’s policy and they cannot have any opinion that the minister decides is a political opinion different from his own.
This is another blow for democracy. Educators are important witnesses of the needs for the future of our country. Their views and their full participation in our democracy is something we cannot live without.
It would be absurd that a whole category of people who are so close to our children and young people would not be allowed to express their views and instead remain completely silent. Educators should be an example for our children so that they are not afraid to speak critically, do not hesitate to take part in the public life of the community, and do not hesitate to promote new ideas that are far from the politics of the government of the day.
We join the appeal for this fascist directive to be removed.