The Minister of Education and Merit is the member of the Italian government responsible for the state school system — from pre-primary school (scuola dell'infanzia) to the end of upper secondary education, together with adult-education centres.
In practice the office combines several roles that, in other countries, are sometimes split between different bodies. The minister sets national curricular guidelines and assessment rules; directs the recruitment, training and deployment of a workforce of nearly 900,000 teaching posts; allocates national and European funds; issues the decrees, notes and circulars through which laws are applied in schools; and represents Italian education in the Council of Ministers, in Parliament and in European and international fora.[5]
Universities and research belong to a separate ministry. The Ministry of Education and Merit is therefore a ministry of schools: of classrooms, timetables, examinations, buildings, staff contracts and the relationship between the state and some 7,600 autonomous educational institutions.[5]
Valditara was sworn in at the Quirinale on 22 October 2022 as part of the government led by Giorgia Meloni.[3] He set out his programme to Parliament in hearings before the joint culture committees of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies on 30 November and 15 December 2022 — the customary moment at which a new minister presents priorities to the legislature.[6] The government's official page lists Paola Frassinetti as undersecretary at the ministry.[2] For the minister's earlier career, see the Biography and Public Life pages.
