Santa Catarina should expand teaching of the Italian language in schools

In a meeting this Tuesday (23), deputy Dr. Vicente Caropreso and the Secretary of State for Education, Aristides Cimadon, discussed the expansion of teaching the Italian language in schools in Santa Catarina. The state, which has one of the largest communities of Italian descendants in Brazil, seeks to strengthen the offer of Italian courses in partnership with higher education institutions.

During the meeting, the lack of qualified teachers to teach the language in state schools was highlighted. Currently, only the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) offers a degree course in Italian, which limits the desired expansion of language teaching.

“There is a demand from the school community for the language to be taught in schools. This is also a claim from the Italian Consulate General in Curitiba and the Italian Embassy in Brazil. It is an issue of great cultural relevance,” said Dr. Caropreso

The proposed solution involves a partnership between the Department of Education and private educational institutions to encourage the opening of new degree courses in Italian. Secretary Cimadon indicated that the secretariat will launch a notice for higher education institutions to qualify to offer the course, with costs borne by the Santa Catarina government through a specific fund.

Dr. Caropreso highlighted the urgency of this initiative in the legislative plenary, pointing out that of the approximately 500,000 students enrolled in the state network, only 1,400 received Italian classes in 2023. “Out of more than a thousand state schools, only 14 offered teaching of Italian in the last year. It’s a reality that we need to change”, highlighted the parliamentarian.

*Supervised by Everton Palaoro

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