Ministry of Public Education (Italy)


The Ministry of Public Education was the government body of the Italian Republic devoted to the administration of the national education system in three separate periods. In May 2008 it has been merged into the present-day Ministry of Education, Universities and Research.

History

Set up in 1861 under the Cavour cabinet, it was suppressed on 12 September 1929 by Benito Mussolini's cabinet, and replaced by the Ministero dell'Educazione Nazionale. This name persisted until 29 May 1944, and the second Ivanoe Bonomi cabinet had it revert to its original name.
It remained unchanged until 14 December 1974, when Giovanni Spadolini created the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali, which took over responsibilities and functions from this and other ministries. In 1988, the Ministero dell'Università e della Ricerca Scientifica e Tecnologica also subsumed some of the education ministry's responsibilities. In the first Romano Prodi cabinet the two were merged into the Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione, Università, Ricerca Scientifica e Tecnologica, then the Ministero dell'istruzione, dell'università e della ricerca in the second and third Silvio Berlusconi cabinets. The two were re-separated in the second Prodi cabinet of 17 May 2006, but then re-merged in the fourth Berlusconi cabinet of 7 May 2007.

Organization

At its end in 2007, the Ministry consisted of :