I 30 YEARS OF’ ESI
30 years of ESI in the Netherlands: a fascinating story.
With a dual purpose: the diffusion of the Italian language and culture in the Netherlands and the offer of a school service to the Italian community and/or of Italian origin residing there.
The history of the Foundation (“Foundation”) ESI begins on 17 November 1993 with the notarial filing of the Statute at the Rotterdam Chamber of Commerce:
Item 2: “The purpose of the Foundation is […] the care of issues relating to the education in Italian of Italian citizens residing in the Netherlands and members of their families. It is in charge […] to the promotion of their training in Italian within schools […] aiming to protect their culture and identity. The Foundation may also carry out any other activity that is relevant in the broadest sense of the term to what is described above”.
Few would have imagined that within a few years the ESI would have expanded its action:
- to the organization of independent Italian language and culture courses, intended for students of the age groups corresponding to primary and secondary school and adult students;
- to the promotion of Italian language courses included in the school programs of public and private schools in the Netherlands;
- to the implementation of training and refresher activities for Italian language teachers in the Netherlands;
- to the promotion of Italian culture in the Netherlands through the organization of conferences, theatrical performances and participation in events useful for this purpose.
All this was possible thanks to people, starting from 6 with which we started in 1993 to the dozens and dozens who have gradually committed themselves during these 30 years to achieve these objectives.
The start
The history of ESI begins with the 1993/1994 school year, in which 4 teachers carry out 43 courses for a total of 429 students among children and adults in various locations in the Consular District of Rotterdam (Central-South Holland. ESI thus reactivates the courses carried out in previous years by COASCIT, body of direct consular emanation.
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The expansion
The story of ESI continues from the school year 2001/2002 with the incorporation of the activities previously carried out by the counterpart Egasit (operating in the Consular District of Amsterdam – Olanda North and East). 19 teachers carry out 118 courses for a total of 1200 pupils among children and adults in various locations throughout the Netherlands.
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The difficult years
The story of ESI continues from the school year 2005/2006 with the cessation of ministerial contributions for adult courses and the progressive reduction by the MAE of permanent ministerial teachers. We therefore witness the subsequent drastic reduction of ministerial contributions for elementary courses, following the global economic crisis.
It thus progressively drops to just one 5 teachers for just 16 courses with 162 pupils. At the end of the period the last ministerial chair was also abolished.
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The recovery
The economic crisis of the previous two years has been overcome, ESI expands the offer of courses for children throughout the territory and begins the organization of self-financed courses for adults (that is, without any more ministerial contributions). At the end of the period they will be there 34 overall courses with 300 students e 14 teachers entirely dependent on ESI.
In 2019 ESI is authorized by the Universities of Siena and Perugia to administer the CILS and CELI exams for the achievement of CEFR certifications
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The COVID years
These are the years of the pandemic and all in-person courses are disrupted and then forcibly closed according to the provisions of the competent Dutch authorities. ESI proceeds without delay to transform all active courses into distance learning courses (online), for both children and adults. Thanks to the professionalism and flexibility of the entire teaching staff, the success is astonishing: the number of courses, pupils, teachers and teaching hours remains unchanged!
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Maturity
The history of ESI continues by reporting all the traditional in-person courses for children, opening distance courses for children unable to attend traditional courses, and expanding the offer of online courses for adults.
Currently 19 teachers ensure the carrying out of 42 courses for children, 8 annual courses for adults e 4 courses for adults preparing for certification exams.
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ESI is currently operational on the territory of the Netherlands in two complementary modes: corsi elementari e medi destinati a studenti in età della scuola dell’obbligo (5- 16 years) e corsi destinati a studenti in età superiore. I corsi elementari/medi vengono ancora in parte finanziati con contributi stanziati annualmente dal Ministero italiano degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale (MAECI) e per la parte rimanente da una quota di partecipazione a carico (delle famiglie) degli allievi. Per decisione ministeriale, from the 2013 i corsi per adulti non ricevono più contributi dalle Istituzioni italiane e vengono quindi interamente finanziati dagli studenti stessi. Non esercitando un’attività di tipo commerciale ma di servizio culturale alla comunità, l’ESI non realizza profitti (Ente morale no-profit), fissando quindi ed utilizzando i proventi suddetti per la sola copertura delle spese connesse alla gestione dei corsi.
L’ESI è integrato nel “Italian Training System in the World” quale istituito dal MAECI, ed è l’unico Ente che gestisce nei Paesi Bassi una capillare organizzazione su tutto il territorio di corsi di Lingua e Cultura italiana per bambini, adattati annualmente alle molteplici esigenze dell’utenza, con riferimento a – famiglie di funzionari italiani presso Organizzazioni internazionali; – famiglie di professionisti italiani trasferitisi in Olanda; – famiglie di lingue/origini miste e/o solo in parte italiane; – famiglie integrate nella società olandese con origine e/o discendenza italiana; – famiglie di lingua non-italiana ma con particolare interesse all’Italia e/o alla lingua italiana.
For adults, l’ESI offre corsi di tutti i livelli del QCER (Quadro Comune Europeo di Riferimento) both in-presence and at-distance, destinati a: – studenti che desiderano apprendere l’Italiano per cultura ed interesse personale; – studenti che necessitano di un livello specifico di Italiano per ragioni professionali; – studenti che necessitano di una certificazione ufficiale di conoscenza dell’Italiano (di livello minimo B1) per poter richiedere la cittadinanza italiana.