"La scuola è aperta a tutti" e "i capaci e meritevoli, anche se privi di mezzi, hanno diritto di raggiungere i gradi più alti degli studi. La Repubblica rende effettivo questo diritto con borse di studio, assegni alle famiglie ed altre provvidenze, che devono essere attribuite per concorso".

So says our Constitution, and so the facts contradict it — laid out in black and white in a report published by Save the Children, alongside a video, on the occasion of Literacy Day, with the return to school just around the corner: only three regions, Valle d'Aosta, Trentino-Alto Adige and Friuli-Venezia Giulia, guarantee free loan schemes to all pupils attending compulsory schools, regardless of their economic circumstances. In all the others, the procedures for reimbursements are slow, cumbersome and very often insufficient.

Problems and delays in the South

In many regions, for instance, Save the Children explains that the forms for reimbursement of textbooks (which by law can cost up to a total of 294 euros) involve particularly restrictive criteria: one example is the residency requirement, demanded in almost every region, which effectively excludes all families who, for a variety of reasons (internal as well as external migration), have not yet obtained it. Delays in the payment of bonuses and reimbursements also frequently stretch for months after the start of the school year, and sometimes for years: the most glaring cases are recorded in Campania, where the payment backlog stands at nearly two years, and in Sicily, where it has already exceeded three years.

Between poverty and the technology gap

Naturally, in the absence of timely and adequate contributions, the worst affected are the least well-off families, for whom it is impossible to purchase all the required textbooks at the start of term without making severe sacrifices in other areas essential to the family, such as health and food. This is a less marginal problem than one might think, given that in 2015 almost one in ten families had a level of consumption below the absolute poverty threshold.

"The lack of access to textbooks at the start of the school year creates difficulties and demoralises children, who see their economic situation impacting on their daily school life and their relationships with classmates," explains Raffaela Milano, director of Italy-Europe programmes at the NGO working on children's issues. "In many cases this leads to a growing disengagement from school, which can push students to drop out early and can manifest itself through irregular attendance, lateness and failing grades." But Italy also suffers from an enormous technology gap: to date, only 0.7% of Italian middle schools rely exclusively on digital materials such as e-books and online resources, which would in practice eliminate or almost eliminate the problem.