A teacher in Italy who was sacked for 20 years of absence in 24 years at schools near Venice has vowed to tell her side of the story, reports BBC News. Cinzia Paolina De Lio was dismissed in 2017 after she reappeared for four months and triggered complaints. De Lio was reinstated in 2018 after a ruling by a judge in Venice but the education ministry appealed against the decision, and it was reversed by the Supreme Court of Cassation a couple of weeks ago.

The secondary school teacher, who specialises in history and philosophy, said she had documents to prove her story but told Repubblica newspaper, "Sorry, but right now I'm at the beach."  The ministry argued that the teacher had kept out of the classroom for 20 out of her 24 years of service. For the first 10 years she was completely absent, and her absences in the other 14 years were attributed to sickness, personal or family reasons, The Times reported.

The court also heard that in a four-month period in 2015 when she did teach in Chioggia near Venice, students complained of her lack of preparedness, her failure to bring textbooks and her ‘random and improvised’ way of marking. An inspection found she was ‘unprepared’ and ‘inattentive’, and students refused to take part in her classes as she was distracted by her phone. Her defence of ‘freedom of teaching’ was rejected by the court which argued it was the teacher's responsibility to guarantee students' right to study. The education ministry said it would ‘increasingly strive to ensure that the activity of teaching is carried out with adequate professionalism’.