ITALY: Pupils’ protest against the proposed reforms of new education minister Letizia Moratti is gathering momentum. A general strike of teachers at the beginning of November may have been a damp squib, with a turnout of less than 20 per cent, but Italy’s vociferous secondary school students reckon they can do better. In mid-November a group of pupils at the historic Liceo Tasso in Rome began a hunger strike to defend state schools from what they see as a sell-out to the private sector by Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right government, which plans financial support for parents who choose a private education for their children. The protest has spread rapidly. Dozens of schools in major towns are now “occupied” by students staging on-going sit-ins, with lessons postponed until further notice. At the Liceo Tasso, pupils called off the hunger strike when Ms Moratti agreed to meet representatives, but came away from the meeting disillusioned because the minister had also invited student representatives of Catholic organisations in favour of the reforms.