The Ministry of Education has published on its website the Guidelines for teaching the Adriatic border, a document resulting from the fruitful activity carried out by the Working Table of the Ministry – Associations of Istrian, Fiume and Dalmatian Exiles; the document can be freely consulted online or downloaded in PDF format:

http://www.miur.gov.it/documents/20182/0/Linee+Guida+per+la+didattica+della+Frontiera+Adriatica.pdf

We publish the note with which the Head of the Department for the education and training system, Dr. Stefano Versari, issued the Guidelines.

*** 

            In implementation of Law 30 March 2004, n. 92, “in order to preserve and renew the memory of the tragedy of the Italians and of all the victims of the foibe, of the exodus from their lands of the Istrians, Fiume and Dalmatians in the post-war period and of the more complex story of the eastern border”, this Ministry is involved in initiatives aimed at spreading knowledge of it to young people in schools of all levels.

The "Guidelines for teaching the Adriatic Border”, which are hereby proposed to the schools of the national education system, are a further expression of this commitment – ​​jointly with the Associations of Istrian, Fiuman and Dalmatian Exiles – and constitute a pedagogical and didactic tool for dealing with rigor and balance with the complex events of these lands and their people.

As noted in the preface by Minister Bianchi, these Guidelines “contribute to the reflection that characterizes historical teaching as a laboratory of contemporaneity. They lend themselves to intertwining values ​​and identities; to orienting civic and social commitment towards the common good, respecting memories. They constitute an attempt to build paths of reconciliation in the perspective of common European citizenship”. In good In essence, they offer a possible scholastic response to the "question of history" that the events of the Adriatic Frontier prompt.

The combined Guidelines constitute a qualified opportunity to understand "the signs" that the successive events have left on the people, a common past also characterized by different points of view.

By studying events that are now distant in time, it is possible to facilitate “competent” cognition of the present.

Territorial claims and conflicts, national and ideological oppression, discrimination, violence, ... are not, unfortunately, the exclusive prerogative of the past, of history. The latter can therefore become a construction site of contemporaneity, for "bridging the gap between person and community”, to promote shared understanding of events closest to us, to educate about dialogue and respect for the gaze of others.

The events of the Adriatic Frontier can be addressed in schools of all levels and, the related work units, connect to the disciplines and curriculum of Civic Education with an interdisciplinary approach. The tools offered (historical cartography, vocabulary, references to multimedia products online, ...) and the teaching suggestions (historical simulations, role-playing games, linguistic analysis, laboratory activities, ...) can be treasured by the professional community of teachers for the development of skills, not only cognitive, of their students.

Stefano Versari