section_path: Demographics/Education
section_name: Education
paragraph_text: Education
  
  Education is mandatory and free from ages six to sixteen, and consists of five stages: kindergarten, primary school, lower secondary school, upper secondary school, and university.
  
  Primary school lasts eight years. Students are given a basic education in Italian, English, mathematics, natural sciences, history, geography, social studies, physical education, and visual and musical arts. Secondary school lasts for five years and includes three traditional types of schools focused on different academic levels: the liceo prepares students for university studies with a classical or scientific curriculum, while the istituto tecnico and the istituto professionale prepare pupils for vocations.
  
  In 2018, secondary education was evaluated as being below the average among OECD countries. Italy scored below the OECD average in reading and science, and near the OECD average in maths. Compared to school children in other OECD countries, children missed out on a greater amount of learning due to absences and indiscipline in classrooms. A wide gap exists between northern schools, which perform near average, and the south, which had much poorer results.
  
  Tertiary education is divided between public universities, private universities, and the prestigious and selective superior graduate schools, such as the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. 33 Italian universities were ranked among the world's top 500 in 2019. Bologna University, founded in 1088, is the oldest university still in operation, and one of the leading academic institutions in Europe. Bocconi University, the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, LUISS, the Polytechnic University of Turin, the Polytechnic University of Milan, the Sapienza University of Rome, and the University of Milan are also ranked among the best.