Thousands protested in Rome Thursday after the Italian government approved changes to the country's school system the previous day.
Reforms include failing students with poor behavior, assigning elementary students the same teacher for all five years and instating mandatory uniforms in school, the Associated Press reported.
The legislation will also cut education spending by $1.9 billion, according to Bloomberg News. It will also eliminate 70,000 elementary school jobs. The move will save Italy, the world's most indebted country, $7 billion a year, Bloomberg reported.
The one-day strike closed elementary, middle and high schools across the country, the AP reported.
"We are so many people and if we can't change anything, then it means this is a form of a dictatorship," high school student Lara Nori told the AP.
-M.M.
