Pledge 35 – Besiktas

On 17 February 2020, Beşiktaş, a big district of Istanbul, signed a pledge to the European Pillar of Social Rights. Mayor Riza Akpolat signed a strong commitment to principle 1 on education, training and lifelong learning.

Beşiktaş is committed to provide all citizens, particularly young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, with equal opportunities to access quality education, training and lifelong learning. In concrete terms, Beşiktaş commits to prioritise equal opportunities in education by:

• Investing in opening a career and educational centers, study spaces and students’ residences, as well as encouraging the young people to enrol in social scholarships or European Solidarity Corps projects as part as its Strategic Plan 2020-2024.
• Extending the Beşiktaş Academy (opened in 2019) with new branches in three other neighbourhoods (by 2021) to support disadvantaged students up to 25 years old to prepare national exams and promote lifelong learning and adult leaning with linguistic and cultural courses. The budget allocated for these actions is around half million euros per year.

Riza Akpolat, the Mayor of Besiktas, said: “Besiktas Municipality believes that all citizens have the right to reach their full potential in society.”