Years of economic crises have left schools struggling to keep up standards with fewer teachers and crumbling infrastructure. Just how do they cope? With ever-greater dependence on support from parents, says Silvia Guzzetti in Italy Last year, pupils at a Turin school brought down part of a classroom ceiling during a boisterous game that involved throwing rucksacks high into the air. According to the head teacher, the possibility of more falling debris and the release of glass fibre particles posed a danger to pupils and staff and he was forced to evacuate the school. “We needed to secure the panels, which could have fallen at any time, and also check the quality of the air to make sure it was safe, but the local government didn’t have the funding,” said Carmine Percuoco