Bilingual School Opens in Italy
A new bilingual lower secondary school has opened its door in the Italian Friuli Venezia-Giulia region has opened in what is an important achievement for the Slovenian minority in Italy.
The school in San Pietro al Natisone was inaugurated with a brief ceremony on Wednesday, which was attended by a number of political figures from Slovenia and Italy.
Ziva Gruden, the headmistress of the school, emphasised that the school was a result of a joint effort by parents, as well as students.
Roberto Antonaz, member of the Friuli Venezia-Giulia committee for education and culture, said the province would help the municipality of San Pietro al Natisone with the funding of the new school.
Among guests at the opening were Milos Budin, an undersecretary of the Italian government, and Zorko Pelikan, the head of the Government Office for Slovenians Abroad, as well as Drago Stoka of the Council of Slovenian Organisations.
Bojan Brezigar, head of the joint committee overseeing the implementation of the minority protection act, also attended the ceremony, as well as Trieste-based Slovenian Consul General Joze Susmelj.
The newly-founded lower secondary school will be attended by 16 students this year. It is part of a bilingual school centre, which now encompasses all three stages of first education degree in Italy: kindergarten, primary and lower secondary school. The bilingual school centre, now attended by 188 students, started off as a private kindergarten in 1984, while two years later a private primary school was founded, which was in 1997 leveled with Italian public schools and became a public school on grounds of the minority protection act in 2001.
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