We local governments manifest our firm commitment to the Right to an Educating City, as an extension of the basic right of all people to education and as a vehicle for realizing other basic rights. We see the Right to Education as a driver of human, social and economic development of people and communities; an indispensable element for achieving sustainable development, an active citizenship and lasting peace.
As local governments we assume our commitment to promote inclusive quality education and life-long learning opportunities for all, by ensuring that this right can be realized without any form of discrimination and by strengthening the important tasks undertaken by educational institutions and families.
At the same time, of special note is the fact that libraries, museums, cultural, healthcare and sport centers, municipal services, sundry associations, the business community, the media etc., offer innovative non-formal and informal educational proposals that should complement and enrich formal education.
Having the conviction that education entails an enormous power of social transformation, we recognize and support the valuable educational work carried out by all these agents in the construction of this city model. With this, we are also contributing to a paradigm shift in education.
Thus, we local governments invite the educational community, grassroots organizations and civil society as a whole to pool their efforts to realize the Right to an Educating City; a city governed by inclusion and equality of opportunities, social justice, equity, diversity; a city without violence, that promotes participatory democracy, coexistence amongst different cultures, dialogue between the generations, empathy, cooperation, etc. This aspiration arises from the principles included in our roadmap: the Charter of Educating Cities.
Only if we are able to build a large local network of educational agents around this shared project will we be able to transform urban space into an educating space, where, in addition to facilitating access to knowledge and wisdom, we can also transmit values and attitudes so that people can develop their skills and become active agents in the development of their communities.
As political representatives we are committed to creating spaces of encounter, dialogue, reflection and decision-making, in which the different cultures and social groups that make up our society are present in order to meet successfully the numerous challenges that our municipalities are facing.