Italy revives policy of failing badly behaved pupils to ‘bring back respect’

Middle school and high school pupils who score five or less out of 10 on conduct will fail the year and have to retake it. Photograph: Agenzia Sintesi/Alamy

Italy has reinstated a measure to fail badly behaved pupils as concerns grow over aggression directed at teachers.

The “grades for conduct” policy, similar to a measure first introduced by Benito Mussolini’s fascist government in 1924, is part of an education bill that was approved in parliament on Wednesday, and gives schools the power to fail students based purely on their behaviour.