Coming-of-age stories, from Spoleto to Ustica to Reggio Emilia

“He who has been under the bombs is not afraid of scrutiny”, David's story

Two years ago, he fled Russian bombings on Ukraine to take refuge in Umbria, with his grandmother. Yesterday, at 8 p.m., he walked through the door of the Spoleto linguistic high school to take the first test of the secondary school leaving exam. The protagonist of this story, made of courage and desire to succeed, is called David Movsisianis 18 years old, and lives in the city of the Festival of the Two Worlds.

David is a determined boy, hardened by life, but also gentle to the point of being moved by thinking of his parents, his brother and his little sister who live in Kropyvnytsky, a city of more than 200,000 inhabitants not far from kyiv. He is certainly not afraid of anything, even less of maturity: “Anyone who has woken up one morning under bombs cannot be afraid of exams,” he tells ANSA sitting in front of his computer in his bedroom. Since yesterday morning, he began to try his hand at written exams and then it will be time for oral exams: “The subject that poses the most difficulty for me is French, but even the second written subject, German, n “It's not easy,” he emphasizes.

For the Italian test – as David himself said today at the end of the first test – he immersed himself in the theme of rediscovering silence. “I first – he explains – wrote the text in Ukrainian, then I translated it into Italian.” But the story that strikes the heart is the one that takes it back to February 24, 2022, the day the war began. “I was only 16 – David remembers – and I had studied all night before to pass an interview at school the next morning. Instead, my mother, when she woke up, told me to stay home with my little sister because the war had started.”

Two months later, he arrived in Spoleto and started a new life. “As soon as I arrived in Italy – adds David – it was very hard, both because of the language and the lack of my family and friends, but now I love living here.” “After finishing high school, I will enroll at the University for Foreigners in Perugia and when I grow up, I want to do business in the world of catering and the flower market,” he continues daydreaming. “Even if – he emphasizes – my biggest dream at the moment is that the war ends as quickly as possible and that peace returns to Ukraine.”

David explains that he loves Italian cuisine and that he likes to dedicate himself to cooking: “I cook every day – he says – also because my grandmother is always working. The dishes that suit me best are Honey Pork Ribs and French Potatoes. “. She devotes a special thought to her 12 classmates. “I'm the only man – he reveals – and they loved me from the start. And then there is Martina who is my best friend and who helped me a lot in my studies.” Speaking of his friends in Ukraine, he wants to tell them that “everything will be fine.” While waiting for the end of his baccalaureate, David began counting the days until his mother and little sister arrive in Spoleto in July: “I will welcome them crying with happiness,” he assures.

The loneliness of “unique” numbers

Enthusiastic but ready to exceed this objective “After this exam, I would like to stay on the island that I love so much and work in the tourism sector. The relationship with this land and with the sea is for me very strong and indissoluble.” Light blue short-sleeved shirt and backpack on the shoulders Gaetano Caminita who will turn 19 on June 22, took his high school exams “alone” in an empty classroom at the Saveria Profeta Technical and Economic Institute in Ustica. And it is precisely here that the 19-year-old has been taking his classes since he was a student. child.

Yesterday morning, he was the only fifth grader having difficulty with the Italian test. “I chose the piece on Profiles, Selfies and Blogs, I was able to talk about my experience. The other pieces were also interesting.” Tomorrow he will take the economics exam. He arrived at school earlier than the state exam's 8:30 a.m. start time. An exceptional event for the island and in general for the school world at which the director of the regional school office of Sicily was present. Giuseppe Pierrothe Palermo territory manager Luca Gatani and the school principal Right Catania.

Caminita is one of the 46,291 young people from high schools, public technical and professional institutes (41,952) and private schools (4,340) who are completing their final exams for the 2023/24 school year in Sicily. Of the 32 hours per week scheduled at the institute, Caminita attended half as the only student in a class, the other half with eight other fourth-year students.

Reggio Emilia Resistance denialist teacher is not an exam commissioner

Among the commissioners appointed for the Reggio Emilia secondary school leaving exam, the Italian and Latin teacher of the 'Aldo Moro' high school in Reggio Emilia, who recently made headlines for delivering to her students – the penultimate day of classes – does not appear there, on June 6, certain newspapers denying not only the participation of women in the Resistance, but the very existence of the War of Liberation.

The newspaper reports the “absence” of the professor “Reggio Newspaper”. The teacher's behavior had sparked controversy, caused the dissociation of other teachers from the institute and the intervention of the school director for possible disciplinary measures agreed with the regional school management. Member of the Democratic Party of Reggio Emilia, Ilenia Malavasihad addressed a question to Giuseppe Valditara, Minister of Education and Merit.

According to the local newspaper, the teacher regularly participated in final exams, but for the final exam she was replaced by a colleague from another class. For the teacher – who will retire from September and will not return to the high school classrooms – June 6 was a rather eventful penultimate day of school.

It is unlikely, in fact, that these leaflets with a revisionist tendency went unnoticed, especially in municipalities like Reggio Emilia, the city of the Tricolor and the Gold Medal for the military valor of the Resistance, moreover on the day of 80 anniversary of ANPI. In these diaries – immediately reported by the students to their history teacher who then informed the director of what had happened – the Resistance against fascism was attacked, judged, according to the teacher, to be an invention. of the teacher had been stigmatized by the director of the Reggio Emilia high school who had “firmly condemned the unacceptable content of these sheets, clearly reiterating the very high value of the Resistance” and opened the controversy also at the political level with the parliamentarian of Fratelli d' Italy Gianluca Vinci to defend the teacher who, according to him, “probably also because she was close to retirement, simply gave her version of the facts” and the CGIL to loudly demand measures against the teacher.