Students, teachers hold nation wide strike protesting govt reform bill

(30 Oct 2008) SHOTLIST 1. Wide of Visconti highschool 2. Banner reading, in Italian, "occupied" 3. Pan down from flags to school students in front doorway 4. Mid of students 5. SOUNDBITE (Italian) VOX POP Marco, student: "I put on a plaster (band-aid) which does not cost anything, but it represents the cuts that our government is making to our culture." pan to female student SOUNDBITE: (Italian) VOX POP Flaminia, student: "Because they cut each individual one of us, therefore each one has his or her plaster (band-aid)...the slogan should be 'they have cut my culture', effectively each one of us is hit personally by this thing." 6. Mid of police van 7. Close of boy with plaster on his nose 8. Mid of students outside school 9. Wide of newspapers 10. Newspaper headline reading, in Italian, "We are riding the wave" 11. Pull out from newspaper headline reading, in Italian, "Schools, yes to the Gelmini bill, in Rome battle between students" 12. Newspaper headline reading, in Italian "Schools, referendum on Gelmini" 13. Wide of demonstration at Piazza La Repubblica 14. Mid of balloons 15. Wide of police 16. Mid of demonstration 17. SOUNDBITE: (Italian) Maria Pia Garaviglia, Opposition Democratic Party: "This is a protest that involves not just schools, it includes the families, the unions, everyone, because the schools belong to everybody and schools are for everybody." 18. Wide reflection of protest in puddle, pan up to protesters with balloons and signs STORYLINE Thousands of students, teachers and school workers marched through the streets of Rome on Thursday to protest changes to Italy's school system that they say will cause staff cuts and damage education. Premier Silvio Berlusconi's government supports the changes, which were passed by parliament on Wednesday. The reforms include a return to an old system which failed students who didn't achieve at least a score of six on a scale of 10 for conduct. Another reform would give elementary students the same teacher for all five grades and require them to wear uniform smocks. Unions representing teachers and other school workers called a strike for Thursday to protest the reforms, which they fear will bring personnel cuts. At the same time, marches and rallies were planned for cities across Italy. In Rome, the thousands of protesters gathered at the Piazza della Repubblica before setting off on a march through the centre of the capital. A representative from the opposition Democratic Party joined in, saying the educational reforms would affect everyone, not just the schools. Many students have been skipping class for weeks to protest the plan and in some cases even occupied schools. Students at the Visconti high school in Rome have been occupying the institute for several days. A group of students gathered outside the entrance to the school on Thursday morning with plasters stuck to their faces, saying they were covering the "cuts to culture" made by the government's educational reforms. While the reforms affect elementary, middle and high school systems in the Italian public schools, university students have also staged marches and school sit-ins and occupations in the last few weeks to protest feared cuts in budgets for university research and classes. On Wednesday, a demonstration in Rome turned violent, with clashes among rival groups of students. Berlusconi has said he will not budge on the reforms despite the protests. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...