Valditara is in Calabria. After landing in Lamezia, the Minister of Education and Merit stopped at the Bernardino Telesio classical high school in Cosenza: “School downsizing is not a problem for Calabria as for all Italian schools, because not only have we not closed any school but we have also foreseen deputy principals who come to replace the regents that have been superseded and therefore there will be a presence on the merged school that wasn't there before because the regent principal had to take turns on the schools. Furthermore, there is a strong simplification in administrative acts so enough with this controversy.”
During the meeting, the minister spoke with the school director Aldo Trecroci, who in recent months had received Valditara's solidarity after the attack suffered at school by the parent of a student.
Photo Franco Arena
The visit to Telesio
The children of the boarding school with tricolor flags welcomed Minister Valditara and the authorities following him with the Mameli anthem. His entrance to the Liceo Classico Bernardino Telesio begins with this note of colour, between the solemn and the festive, to continue between poetry, music, singing, multimedia and culture, “because – as explained by the director of Telesio Domenico De Luca – the the common thread underlying everything remains beauty in the name of classicism and innovation”. Received and accompanied by the new director of the high school and his staff, Valditara visited the school, learning about its talents and potential, towards which he expressed particular appreciation: “The school is the one that valorises talents and you have many of them. Remember where you come from – he said to the students – within you lies the richness of classicism, of a past that roots you in the glory of the West. Enough with the stereotypes! Calabria is also and above all this: courage, intelligence, enthusiasm.” Representing Greco's colleagues, Prof. Flavio Nimpo explained to the Minister how Telesio aims to give Greek the sense of a heritage that is past, present and which will be future, in a continuous discovery that goes alongside that of all the other worlds to which our young people they look out. Then meeting the leaders of the Cosenza hinterland in the Telesio Library, he asked to visit the important cultural center and its valuable ancient collection, under the precious guidance of the director of the Rodotà, Antonella Giacoia, who hoped that with ministerial support can proceed to save other precious historical and identity testimonies of the territory such as those already exposed. Then a short assembly and welcome from De Luca: “Thanks to all the fellow managers present who give the right framework to what the meaning of the school is. I arrived at this historic and prestigious high school in Cosenza after 4 years at a comprehensive institute in our Calabrian hinterland and I can say that the school presents these two faces, that of small towns and large urban areas, in both cases it remains a garrison very important and indispensable. We have – continued Director De Luca – 40% of the students who will leave our Region for university studies and therefore we provide them with the tools to make them feel like citizens of the world. In recent years we have been witnessing the moving of the school towards the future and this will certainly imply its careful review in a few years. For our part, we will direct tools and structural funding towards the affirmation of an increasingly inclusive social elevator school, capable of valorizing excellence, and of innovating while being rooted in classicism”. This was echoed by the director of the Calabrian school office, Antonella Iunti, who underlined how the presence of the Minister in Calabria and Cosenza once again represents particular attention towards a territory that wants to take up the challenges that await it. “We have activated – said Iusi – a regional table to combine future employment prospects with targeted development actions for the training of new skills and professionalism”. “Calabria – Valditara echoed – is the region of Italy with the greatest and most extraordinary future possibilities and I say this in a school that bears the name of a thinker who inspired many others, from Descartes to Bacon, from Bruno to Campanella . Where there is school and culture there is legality!”. Therefore, taking up the invitation of the artistic director and director of the Officine Teatrali Telesiane Antonello Lombardo, the Minister assured that the aim is to introduce more theater and music into schools, given their great educational value. A fruitful day of discussion and good intentions which gives us hope for the future of our school.