Naples takes action to combat school drop-out and youth crime
In a town plagued by insecurity and family disengagement, a number of associations are trying to curb the trend.
«I don’t like it at all, it’s so boring.» Sabrina[1] is talking about school, which she’s impatient to quit in October when she reaches 16, the legal age for leaving school in Italy. Her mother oscillates between resignation and efforts at persuasion. But Sabrina is categorical: «My mother’s words are scary, but once I’m in school, the boredom is overwhelming.»
In Naples, hundreds of pupils like Sabrina feel the same lack of enthusiasm, which has led to an alarming rise in absences and dropouts[2].
Sabrina lives in Rione Sanità, a district with a rich history, with the feel of a small town embedded in a big city, dense and decadent. The area is also known for its high crime rate.
Some families live in bassi, tiny dwellings on the ground floor or in the basement, often deprived of natural light, which were formerly used as warehouses.
In Sanità, on a sunny but cool April afternoon, in the majestic room of an old hospital, the impatient voice of Antonella, Sabrina’s mother, rings out. «Are you coming or not?» she exclaims in a recorded message for the other mothers in the neighbourhood. This Thursday, the Centro la Tenda association’s «Io s-banco» project, supported by 239,000 euro from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP)[3], is hosting a meeting on parenting.
The mothers play a modified Game of the Goose, where each throw of the dice confronts them with personal themes. The activity quickly becomes a rich source of discussion and sharing of experience.
Most of these women finished their education with middle school, and became mothers at a very young age. They have all had lives fraught with difficulties, and often marked by the legal troubles of their partners. They survive on limited resources.
Antonella, 36, regrets giving up her studies after middle school due to lack of interest. A mother at 16, she subsequently had two more children. «And I’d like to have a fourth», she confides with an infectious smile. In 2022, the Campania region of Naples had the highest rate of teenage mothers in Italy.
Antonella’s eldest, aged 20, has qualified to be a beautician, a relatively common career choice in the south of the country, and one that makes Antonella particularly proud. But when she talks about Sabrina’s decision, her smile turns to bitterness: «I keep telling her she should stay at school, that she might regret it…»
Her youngest daughter, Elena, aged six, is less of a problem in this regard. In the morning, she leaps out of bed, excited to go to school. In the afternoon, she attends the association’s education centre. «I get to learn the rules and how to make friends», she says, closing her notebooks to prepare for the game. The children throw a ball at a target marked with numbers. Each number corresponds to a word to be translated into English. The team that translates the most words wins. The aim of this recreational workshop is to help children acquire skills that the European Union considers fundamental. To make it easier to assimilate these skills, the pupils have translated them into Neapolitan dialect. Civic competence becomes «tieneme che te tengo» – «hold me so I hold you», an invitation to mutual aid – and this afternoon it’s the «io spicco very well» workshop.
Antonella’s life has been marked by hardship. Her father spent time in prison, as have the fathers of her daughters. Two years ago, after an assault at the hands of her youngest daughter’s father, she pressed charges. As a stay-at-home mother, Antonella receives state benefits that provide her with a monthly income of around €1,300. «My mother is always there for me, ready to do anything to help», she adds gratefully. With no financial support from her ex-husbands, and a new partner currently in custody, she still manages to maintain her fighting spirit.
The downward spiral of dropping out: precarity and criminality
In 2022, Italy ranked fifth in Europe in terms of school dropout rates. In Campania, only 31.8 percent of the population have a middle school diploma. To reverse this trend, Italy received an injection of 750 million euro from the NRRP in 2023.
Italy has received more than 190 billion euro to rebuild after the Covid pandemic, making it the biggest beneficiary of these funds. However, this financial windfall comes with its own set of challenges. The EU has demanded reforms, and fast, but the country has struggled to mobilise the funds, and time is running out: the deadline agreed with Brussels is 2026.
In Naples, dropouts are closely linked to poverty and crime. In 2023, the city had the highest unemployment rate in the country, and the school dropout rate was close to 23 percent, compared with 10.4 percent in central-northern Italy and 16.6 percent in the south.
The educational disparities are also striking: in the south, many schools close their doors at 1pm, while in the north, lessons continue into the afternoon. A Svimez report reveals that children in southern Italy lose an average of one year’s education compared to their counterparts in the rest of the country. What’s more, 79 percent of schools in the south have no canteen.
In a context where school seems to have little to offer, crime becomes an attractive option for young people. A survey of 10,200 pupils revealed that 64.8 percent were unwilling to join the Camorra, the local mafia, and 500 admitted to leaving home armed with a knife. According to the latest reports from the Anti-Mafia Investigation Department, the prolonged absence from school due to the pandemic has made it easier for minors to turn to illegal street activities, through which they are initiated into a «career» in delinquency with the infamous baby gangs of Naples.
Teenagers are not the only ones who quit school prematurely. Even some of the youngest pupils quit. «When a child doesn’t want to go to school, some parents give in, especially when it means getting up early or braving the rain,” explains Gilda Citro, an educator with the Centro la Tenda association.
«We are seeing a growing disengagement of families from formal education», says Maura Striano, the Naples councillor responsible for education. Her data comes from the local council’s online platform which enables schools to report unjustified absences of more than ten days. The platform automatically sends an alert to social services.
«Parents try to get round the reporting by using medical certificates and intermittent absences». The councillor attributes this phenomenon to a change in social perception. «In the past, school was seen as a social ladder for families. Investing in education was thought to be an investment in the future. Today, what counts is earning money and success. Education often takes second place when a young person is bringing in money quickly, even illegally. A young girl taking care of her sick grandmother, when perhaps the mother has other obligations and the father is in prison, becomes an important resource for the family».
Given this alarming context, it is vital to make learning exciting. This challenge has been taken up by many local organisations. We looked at the NRRP-funded initiatives of three associations – Centro la Tenda, Cantiere Giovani, and Maestri di Strada – as well as the Don Milani high school.
In the Centro la Tenda, the children are learning to classify different marine organisms by dipping their hands in the sand. «Our aim is to sow the seeds of knowledge, and instil a sense of responsibility for protecting the marine environment. If you love something, you protect it», explain Velia Matarazzo and Valeria Mazziotti, two biologists who captivate the children with the wonders of the sea at the Naples aquarium. The fact that this workshop is run by women is crucial for the association. They want to inspire girls to consider careers in science, and defy the prevailing machismo.
The Don Milani secondary school is located in San Giovanni-Barra, a lower-income residential area in the east of Naples, where the streets are squeezed between grey buildings. The lack of leisure facilities, libraries and parks paints a bleak picture for the younger inhabitants.
Gennaro Imperatore, a criminologist, runs a psychological support service here. He explains that his aim is to help pupils realise their passions. «Many don’t even know they have them, because pursuing them is expensive. Not only in economic terms, because they are out of reach for many families, but also culturally, in a context where machismo and patriarchy are deeply entrenched», explains Gennaro. The psychologist would like to see NRRP funds give priority to strengthening the sense of community, and creating ties with families, which are all too absent.
«Eight teenagers are currently at risk of dropping out», says Maria Scognamiglio, an educational coordinator. Some of these pupils come from families linked to the Camorra, «but they are trying to overcome their background», explains headmistress Adele Pironi. One incident stands out for her: a pupil from a Mafia family who attacked another girl, allegedly for looking at her the wrong way. «Using street language and violent behaviour, she was impervious to dialogue, and eventually left the school».
Projects that stimulate engagement
The Cantiere Giovani association takes young people from the suburbs of Frattamaggiore, Frattaminore and Casandrino, to the north of Naples. «Our motto is ‘cooperation and dissemination’. We organise pirate-like ‘incursions’ into the metropolis of Naples, to teach children to take ownership of their territory and experience it critically. Like pirates, we teach them to be ‘impertinent’, in other words not to submit passively to the dysfunctions of their community, but to know how to say ‘no, I don’t accept this, I can change it’», explains Pasquale Costanzo, the association’s president.
A small, peripheral town, a neighbourhood, can become a child’s whole world.
«These families feel protected, and rarely, if ever, leave the Rione Sanità,» explains Titty De Marco, President of Centro la Tenda. This sense of protection coexists with a palpable anxiety about the presence of criminals. «But we remain cordial, they are our neighbours. A simple hello or good evening doesn’t cost us anything», confides a mother.
Growing up in a town with a reputation for being «difficult» can be a valuable source of knowledge, essential for transforming it. «When I intervene in a classroom, I don’t just talk to aggressors and their victims. It’s crucial to also engage with those who are passive witnesses to the abuse,» explains Gennaro Imperatore. «It’s essential to make them understand that they must oppose what they see. Otherwise, they will remain passive for the rest of their lives.»
Unsuitable management, and a strategy that needs reimagining
The Maestri di Strada association has launched a mentoring programme to help 36 pupils from the Cavalcanti hospitality institute, near the Don Milani secondary school, to catch up on their education. Maria Rivitti, an educator, expresses her dismay at the challenge of transforming a young person’s future in just 20 hours: «In such a short space of time, how are you supposed to convince a pupil, who has repeatedly failed in order to persuade his parents to let him drop out of school, of the importance of investing in his studies?» Maria Napolitano adds: «We’ve planted a seed, but who knows when it will germinate». Overlapping schedules for workshops and lessons, as well as the afternoon closure of schools, exacerbate the logistical challenges.
«Using these funds is synonymous with headaches,» explains Adele Pironi, headmistress of the Don Milani secondary school. «A few years ago, I was forced to return 130,000 euro in grants because the deadlines were too tight. Since then, we have set up a team dedicated to managing these resources. It’s thanks to this money that we’re able to keep our students busy from morning to night».
Gennaro Imperatore considers the management of these grants to be out of touch with real needs. «The people who decided how the money would be allocated have little understanding of education. They never engaged in dialogue with the local schools». As Pasquale Costanzo explains, «their only concern is to spend the money on time, without any real planning. First of all, we need to talk to the people on the ground, by setting up committees of real experts. Secondly, we need better management of timeframes and deadlines, because you can’t spend money on social projects as quickly as you can on building bridges. Bridges are one thing; people are another».
Despite all these obstacles, there’s a sense of transformation in the air.
Walking through the corridors of the Cavalcanti hospitality institute, 18-year-old Lorenzo addresses us with genuine enthusiasm. «If I’m still here, it’s thanks to Maestri di Strada. Maria has rekindled my passion for cooking». Lorenzo is already putting his culinary skills to good use, working in a renowned pizzeria in Naples. A few metres away, in the corridors of the Don Milani high school, we encounter 17-year-old Gennaro, a promising talent. Self-taught, he began his musical training with a simple keyboard, lent to him by a friend. Gennaro kindly agrees to play us some of his original melodies on the piano in the school’s music workshop, which is funded by the NRRP. It is here that he has been able to hone his talent. His improvised performance is, quite frankly, stunning.
[1] The names of Sabrina, Elena and Antonella have been changed to protect their anonymity.
[2] According to a report by the Italian Ministry of Education, looking at the period between September 2023 and January 2024, out of 18,860 pupils enrolled in the first two years of secondary school, 681 have never attended a single lesson, 1,777 are between 25 and 50 percent absent, and 774 are over 50 percent absent.
[3] The European Union’s financial plan to support the economic recovery of Member States following the COVID-19 pandemic.
This article was produced as part of The Newsroom 27 competition, organised by Slate.fr with the financial support of the European Union. The article reflects the views of the author and the European Commission cannot be held responsible for its content or use.
