CAGLIARI (ITALPRESS) – “Schools educate people to be citizens aware of their rights and duties, develop a sense of community, make them experience coexistence. Sometimes, this time of ours dominated by the nagging of the present, of the here and now, risks making us forget that the educational effort represents a fundamental pillar of the life of the Republic. On the quality of the educational system the future of our society strictly depends. Essential adequate resources must be devoted to it, and ideas, care, attention. The school is not a bubble, an enclosure, a world apart. But an organism that lives in society and contributes to its progress.” This was said by President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, at the National Boarding School in Cagliari for “Tutti a scuola,” the initiative for the inauguration of the school year. “Young people are ahead in digital knowledge. They have made it a tool in their daily lives. So many times grandparents and parents ask them for help and advice, and those who do not would discover a valuable world if they would start,” the head of state added. “Kids learn from us, from our experience, and we learn from them. To be productive it has to be an equal exchange. Technology and its use must not become a barrier of incommunicability, a fenced, distinct, divisive territory between the world of youth and adult society. We cannot and must not abandon young people to a solitary closure, in a world dominated by technology in which they sometimes risk being imprisoned. The smartphone is a tool that helps in daily life, but it is not, does not represent life, which is much more complex, rich, exciting. We cannot run the risk that the ever-evolving technological tool will absorb almost all attention, all relationships, all life. In this, too, the educational system has a decisive task. “For Mattarella, “school is a path of coexistence, of legality, of freedom. Freedom of thought, of choices, of course. But also freedom from those obstacles – of a material or psychological nature – that prevent the proper maturation of consciences,” the president said. We listened with deep emotion to the dialogue between Mrs. Manes and the young actor who impersonates her son Andrea, an innocent victim of cyberbullying. I thank Mrs. Manes again for her educational efforts, which gave a shared turn to her immense pain. Unfortunately, despite many efforts, bullying and cyberbullying are still prevalent among our youth. We need to renew action aimed at repressing and first of all preventing, affecting the root causes – frustration, lack of positive role models, fear of the future – that cause such serious and unacceptable moments. We can no longer close our eyes in the face of so many news events, so many episodes of varying seriousness but all intolerable. “There is discomfort today among young and very young people,” Mattarella stressed. “It is a discomfort that mixes with and overlaps their extraordinary qualities and great generosity of which they are capable. It is not always easy to interpret: sometimes the curtain of incommunicability is so thick that, for parents and teachers, it becomes difficult even to talk about it. It is necessary to break the wall of loneliness and silence. To go out to meet. Listening. Offer possibilities. Build opportunities for dialogue, for sociality, for growing together. Without dialogue, without humanity, without empathy, there will be no technological progress that can fulfill the desire for a full life, rich in relationships, affection, emotions and satisfaction. Youth distress is a great and urgent national issue that must be addressed with all the commitment and means at our disposal. Without indulgence or laxity, which are, moreover, diseductive, but also without harboring the illusion that everything can be solved through an exclusively securitarian viewpoint. “For the head of state, “school is decisive. School is for all and of all. Therefore, work must be continued to remove the obstacles, economic, social and cultural in nature, that prevent young people from attending it or taking full advantage of its opportunities. School dropout is still an open sore, despite the commitment and dedication of many teachers. School integration must continue to grow despite the difficulties. There are various and different fronts that need to be taken care of with constant commitment and attention: towards those with disabilities, towards the underprivileged, towards immigrants. “It is a commitment that is required by the Constitution. But it is also an investment for the society of the future. Every resource spent in education will be found multiplied in the good of the community,” the president said again. Unfortunately, many schools, and entire areas, are lacking adequate means. To this end, the opportunity offered by the great European Recovery Plan, known as the NRP, and which already helps us increase the safety of school buildings, must be used to the fullest. It is necessary to continue on this virtuous path, making Europe a central investor in strategic sectors that open up the future. Schools are certainly one of them. And Europe is the horizon of our school. A lot is asked of teachers, principals, lecturers and support staff; sometimes too much. Even in the face of salaries that are often not up to par with other European countries. This is a major issue that must be addressed concretely,” the head of state continued. “All of them have and must always have the awareness and pride of playing a valuable role for our society: that of forming and educating growing citizens. On their work, often silent and unknown, depends to a great extent the future of our Italy. Schools can do much, but they cannot do everything. Active and positive participation of families is essential in the educational process. Unfortunately, there are signs that the educational pact between families and teachers is sometimes cracked. It needs to be rebuilt everywhere. With patience and trust. Parents must always be careful not to transfer their anxieties about success onto the children. They must see in teachers not a counterpart but interlocutors who help in education, avoiding transmitting to boys a sense of indifference or even superiority to the rules that would destroy their future,” the head of state concluded. “Some failures, reminders help to grow. You don’t give kids a hand if you set up a dynamic of confrontation with the school or unbridled competition among the students themselves.”
– Quirinal press office photo –
(ITALPRESS).
