A COMPARISON IN TERMS OF EDUCATIONAL GEOGRAPHY: BAKIRKÖY AND SULTANGAZİ DISTRICTS

Abstract

The most important resource for countries is the amount of population they have. But nowadays, the quality of the population is as important as the amount of population. The most important factor determining the quality of the population is the level of education. Trained manpower and educated individuals are the most important elements in developing of settlements, economic value productivity and social and cultural development. The development of societies which gives importance to education is faster. So in a residential area there is a close relationship between the education level of the population and the economic level. Due to insufficient importance given to education, economic and social development rate is low in less advanced and developing settlements. Educational geography, examines the educational status of the population in settlement areas and focuses on the causes and consequences of the results. The most basic data which reveals the educational status of settlements is the literate rate. However, nowadays, depending on the diversification of education, the literacy rate is insufficient to reveal the educational status of the settlements. Educational geography not only examines the literate status of the population but also examines the distribution of the population to education levels according to graduation status of the population.

Istanbul, Turkey’s most advanced city, has 39 districts. These districts’ levels of development are different. In this study, Bakirköy and Sultangazi districts, whose settlement history and socioeconomic levels are quite different from each other, were researched in terms of educational geography. Thus, the relationship between the educational and development levels of the settlements were tried to be determined.