Translated automatically by AI from the Italian original.
PALERMO – An alarming picture of severe structural shortcomings and the growing erosion of the right to education in Sicily. This is what emerges from the dossier and thematic focus presented today in Palermo by the regional secretariats of Cgil, Flc (Knowledge Workers) and Fillea (Construction Workers), nearly two years after the previous survey.
The data analysis reveals a reality marked by maintenance shortfalls, a lack of essential safety certifications, widespread architectural barriers and a drastic delay in implementing projects funded by Italy’s EU-funded recovery plan (PNRR).
Safety figures: 77% of schools without habitability certificates
The union’s data describe a fragile and often unsafe school building stock. Of a total of 3,138 school buildings recorded on the island:
- The 77% (2,431 buildings) entirely lack a habitability certificate, one of the four primary certifications required by law on safety;
- Virtually all schools lack any approval for heating systems, as highlighted by the Cgil Sicily confederate secretary, Gabriella Messina;
- A full 23 schools are located in areas classified as high seismic risk.
Particularly dramatic is the chapter on inclusion and accessibility for people with disabilities: only 35.6% of buildings are physically accessible, just 0.7% have tactile paths for the visually impaired and blind, and only 13% have visual emergency signage.
Services in short supply: canteens at 14% and gyms below the national average
Beyond the safety of the structures, the report highlights the drastic lack of teaching, sports and social spaces, which ends up penalising above all young people from socio-economically fragile families and areas.
In Sicily, the canteen service is guaranteed in only 14.43% of cases, against a national average of 36.50%. School gyms are present in just 27.34% of buildings, while laboratories and multi-purpose spaces are scarce.
Mannino (Cgil): “Two months from PNRR deadline, unacceptable delays”
Completing the union’s complaint is the picture of delays in spending the EU funds earmarked for upgrading and securing schools.
“It is serious,” stressed the Cgil Sicily general secretary, Alfio Mannino, “that with just two months until the PNRR programme deadline, only 51% of canteen projects have been completed or tested, just 37.5% of nursery school projects, 75% of gym projects and only 52% of safety upgrade works. These are unjustifiable delays that weigh heavily on the quality of education and on our young people’s right to study, compounded by the negative effects of continuous cuts to school staff.”
