One million children in Italy live in educational poverty.

According to a report by Save the Children one in ten children in Lazio lives in economic and cultural poverty. The research contained in the report Illuminiamo il futuro 2030 – Obiettivi per liberare i bambini dalla Povertà Educativa, concludes that the economic and cultural poverty feed off each other and are self-perpetuating from generation to generation.

In Lazio 17 per cent of children up to the age of two do not go to pre-school, 54 per cent of primary schools do not offer full-day education and 60 per cent of children do not have access to recreational facilities. 47 per cent of those between the ages of 6 and 17 have not read a book during the year, 51 per cent have not visited a museum, although only 37.6 per cent of children have not participated in some form of sport. There are no dining facilities in 37 per cent of Lazio schools and 34 per cent do not have internet connections.

28 per cent of 15-year olds in Lazio do not reach the necessary minimum levels of numeracy and 21 per cent of literacy.

In order to improve the situation for Italy's children, Save the Children has opened 13 Punti Luce in eight regions throughout the country, two of which are in Rome, at Torre Maura (between Via Casilina and Via Tuscolana) and Ponte di Nona (near Via Salone camp between Via Prenestina and Via Collatina), where there is a high density of school-age children and where educational facilities are especially poor.

Save the Children has also produced 300 formation plans for children at risk, which include recommendations for subsidies for books, for musical education and sport.

The full report indicates that the educational opportunities for children in Lazio are slightly worse than the national average and that children in the south (especially Calabria) are considerably more at risk than those living in the north.

The age of compulsory schooling in Italy is from 6-16.