TWO thousand police in riot gear marked the opening of a two-day national education conference to present the “counter-reform” of Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right government. The conference was to be held in the small Umbrian town of Foligno but, after fierce opposition from the mayor, who feared that demonstrators would interrupt Christmas shopping, the venue was changed to Rome at the last minute.

When Letizia Moratti, a former president of the state broadcasting network RAI, took over as education minister in May, she blocked a controversial restructuring of the school system to extend primary school until the age of 13. Instead, she reprieved the scuola media, for 11 to 14-year-olds.

But proposals for the secondary sector have proved far less popular. The idea is to create a two-track system from age 14, with pupils choosing between an academic education in a liceo or professional or vocationally orientated studies in an istituto professionale. Although the non-academic track would not exclude able pupils from higher education, the major teaching unions think that the choice comes too early.

Even the Italian industry confederation, Confindustria, has voiced concern. It wants to see the school-leaving age raised to 16 (from 15), with the choice between academic studies and professional training to come afterwards.

The minister also intends to cut Latin, Greek and physical education from high school curricula, as part of a plan to cut by 20 per cent the number of hours spent in class. Teachers’ unions are divided over the proposals, with two recent national strikes failing to produce large turn-outs.

In contrast, pupil protests are becoming more organised. Believing that Letizia Moratti plans to strengthen the private sector (which accounts for just 6 per cent of the school population) at the expense of the state system, tens of thousands took to the streets to protest against the reform, with dozens of schools organising sit-ins and hunger strikes to coincide with the conference.

In Mestre, near Venice, police were called in to remove 30 pupils who had spent the night in their school and refused to let in pupils who turned up for lessons the next morning.

At the conference the minister appeared flexible. “I have ideas, not instant solutions,” she began, assuring delegates that no reform would be implemented without the agreement of all parties involved.