(30 Oct 2008)
1. Wide of police on street
2. Mid of protesters with banner
3. Wide of protesters with flags and banners
4. Female protester wearing hat with "sino" (donkey) written on it
5. Protest flags and balloons
6. Wide shot of people marching
7. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Marta (no last name given), high school student:
"We need to go ahead, we do not need to return to the past, to school laws approved in the '50s."
8. Wide shot of protesters marching with a big red flag and banners
9. Wide shot of protesters marching with a papier mache bust of Italian Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini
10. Protesters chanting: (Italian) "10, 100, 1000 occupations against this school reform"
11. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Marco (no last name given), student:
"We are here to support this demonstration. On 14 November we will be along the streets again against university reform. We hope that things can change".
12. Protesters marching with banner and flags
13. Police looking on as protesters march past
14. Close up of big red flag
15. Close up of student with megaphone yelling: (Italian) "The one who doesn't jump is like Gelmini"
16. Pan of students marching and chanting
17. Wide shot of protesters
18. Gelmini's image on banner which reads: "Blissful ignorance"
19. Protester holding banner with image of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
STORYLINE:
Thousands of students, teachers and school workers marched through the streets of Rome on Thursday to protest changes to Italy's school system that they say will cause staff cuts and damage education.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government supports the changes, which were passed by parliament on Wednesday.
The reforms include a return to an old system which failed students who didn't achieve at least a score of six on a scale of 10 for conduct.
Another reform would give elementary students the same teacher for all five grades and require them to wear uniform smocks.
Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini, who is from Berlusconi's Freedom Party, contends that having the same teacher for five years will give young children a strong figure to identify with.
A strike closed schools across Italy and thousands came to Rome on Thursday to join the demonstration.
The snake of people snarled traffic across the capital.
One demonstrator described the reforms as a "return to the past".
Many students have been skipping class for weeks to protest the plan and in some cases even occupied schools.
While the reforms affect elementary, middle and high school systems in the Italian public schools, university students have also staged marches and school sit-ins and occupations in the last few weeks to protest feared cuts in budgets for university research and classes.
On Wednesday, a demonstration in Rome turned violent, with clashes among rival groups of students.
Berlusconi has said he will not budge on the reforms despite the protests.
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