Rimini (Italy), 23rd July 2025 | The Director General of OIDEL, Ignasi Grau, took part as a speaker at the Meeting of Rimini, one of the most relevant cultural gatherings in Italy and Europe, which every summer brings together more than 800,000 visitors through conferences, exhibitions and performances, and which this year featured leading international speakers such as former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and the current Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Within this framework, the panel “Educazione libera, scuola autonoma” was held, organized in collaboration with CdO Opere Educative/FOE, Diesse, Di.S.A.L. and the Associazione Culturale Il Rischio Educativo. Speakers included Marco Galdi, Ignasi Grau, Paolo Maino, Maurizio Serafin and Massimiliano Tonarini, moderated by Tommaso Agasisti, Professor at the Polytechnic University of Milan and member of the Executive Committee of OIDEL. A clear message emerged from the discussion: without greater autonomy for schools and real financial support for independent schools, educational freedom risks being limited to a privileged few.

In his remarks, Ignasi Grau underlined that the freedom of education is a human right recognized in all international conventions, but warned: “If this freedom is reserved only for those who can afford it, it ceases to be a true freedom.” OIDEL also presented data from its Freedom of Education Index, which places Italy at the bottom of European rankings, along with Greece and Cyprus, in contrast to countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland, where the State ensures funding for non-governmental schools, making the families’ freedom of choice truly effective.

The panel concluded with a reminder that ensuring free education and autonomous schools is not a secondary issue, but one of the great challenges for the future of the country and of Europe.

Full video of the event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-g6qmhw6zI0