Students protest school work placements four years after death of Lorenzo Parelli

Rome—Students across the Lazio region held flash mobs on Tuesday to mark the fourth anniversary of the death of Lorenzo Parelli and to call for the abolition of Italy’s school–work placement schemes, known as Percorsi per le competenze trasversali e l’orientamento (PCTO).

 The protests were organised by the Lazio branch of the Rete degli Studenti Medi (Secondary School Students’ Network) and took place outside Rome’s Plinio Seniore high school as well as in several other towns, including Viterbo and Latina. The initiative aimed to commemorate Parelli, who died during a work placement, and to renew opposition to the PCTO system, formerly known as school–work alternation. Parelli was 18 and originally from the province of Udine. He was a fourth-year student of industrial mechanics at the Bearzi vocational training institute.

 On 21 January 2022, he was completing a training placement at a metalworking company when he was crushed by a steel bar weighing around 150 kilograms and died instantly. His death reignited a national debate on the safety of school work placements, but student organisations say little has changed since. “Four years have passed and nothing has changed,” the Rete degli Studenti Medi Lazio said. “Lorenzo was not the last.” Protesters also recalled the deaths of Giuseppe Lenoci, who died in 2022 in a road accident while travelling in a company van, and Giuliano De Seta, who was killed in a factory in the Veneto region. Both incidents occurred during PCTO hours. Students also point to numerous injuries linked to the programme.

 “Many students have been hurt during school work placements,” said Bianca Piergentili, regional coordinator of the Rete degli Studenti Medi, citing the case of a student from Rieti who suffered a serious arm injury while using industrial machinery during his PCTO hours. According to the student network, these cases are not isolated accidents but the result of a system that places minors in workplaces without sufficient safeguards. Government measures introduced in recent years, including safety guidelines and protocols, are considered inadequate by protesters.

 Their demand remains unchanged: the abolition of PCTO programmes and a rethinking of the relationship between schools and the world of work. “No more deaths at school we want a safe education system,” students repeated during the demonstrations, a message that continues to drive protests four years after Parelli’s death. PS