Italian
On the occasion of the International Refugee Day, the CNDDU echoes President Mattarella’s call: teaching is not enough, it is time to educate for justice, to welcome with responsibility, and to give voice to the silent stories that inhabit our classrooms.
On World Refugee Day, celebrated on June 20th, the National Coordination of Teachers of Human Rights wishes to echo the words of the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella:
“Doing more for refugees is a moral duty. It is not just a humanitarian issue, it is a legal responsibility.”
In a time when we often talk about flows, crises, numbers, and borders, we risk forgetting that behind every migratory route there is a person. And often, a child. There are no “boats” arriving: lives arrive. Lives seeking refuge, listening, a future.
In 2025, according to the most recent data, over 400,000 people holding international or temporary protection live in Italy, including approximately 163,000 Ukrainian citizens who have been welcomed fleeing from the war. At the same time, more than 207,000 asylum applications are still awaiting a response. In light of these numbers, over 8,000 unaccompanied minors have arrived by sea in the last year.
It’s not a wave, it’s not an invasion: it’s the condition of our time. And it’s also the condition of our school.
Many of these young people are already sitting in our classrooms, often with silent eyes and stories that have no words. The Italian school has a historic opportunity: not only to teach, but to welcome. Not only to welcome, but to understand.
The National Coordination of Teachers for Human Rights firmly believes that social change starts in the classrooms, in the labs, in the hallways of our schools. Every teacher can make a difference. Every class can be a place of renewal.
For this reason, we launch a strong and clear appeal to the world of education:
- Let’s not allow the word “refugee” to become a label. Let’s teach to look beyond.
- We organize moments of reflection, readings, meetings, testimonies: human rights are not optional.
- We support every student, without waiting for the latest European project or ministerial approval: humanity can be practiced even without funding.
- We ask the Ministry of Education and Merit to enhance teacher training by permanently including human rights education, intercultural education, and hospitality teaching in school curricula.
In a time when the right to asylum is all too often the subject of political calculation or perceived as an extraneous issue, schools have the duty to become a space for cultural and civic responsibility.
Educating for justice and human dignity is not an optional gesture: it is the most concrete response we can offer to a humanity in flight.
