International
Mother Language Day, 21 February: Titbits & the theme in 2021
Human
beings are endowed with many qualities and one of the qualities is talking
/interacting with others. I personally feel if interaction is in mother
tongue/mother language both feel happy. As per an estimate 6500 languages
are spoken across the world which is really unique. Some of the languages are
spoken by huge numbers of people and are spoken by less number of people. Only
eight people speak a language known as Bussu. On the other hand, the top 12
most spoken languages in the world (millions speak) are English, Mandarin
Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, French, Arabic, Bangla /Bengali, Russian, Portuguese,
Indonesian, Urdu and German. It is noteworthy to mention that globally
around 40 per cent of the total population does not have access to an education
in a language they speak or understand. Nevertheless, progress is being made in
mother tongue-based multilingual education with growing understanding of its
importance, particularly in early schooling, and more commitment to its
development in public life.
The
idea to celebrate International Mother Language Day was the initiative of
Bangladesh. It was approved in 1999 UNESCO General Conference and from 2000 it
is being celebrated in the world. “UNESCO believes in the importance of
cultural and linguistic diversity for sustainable societies. It is within its
mandate for peace that it works to preserve the differences in cultures and
languages that foster tolerance and respect for others”.
The theme
of the 2021 International Mother Language Day is, “Fostering multilingualism
for
Inclusion
in education and society,” recognizes that languages and multilingualism can
advance inclusion, and the Sustainable Development Goals’ focus on leaving no
one behind.
“UNESCO
believes education, based on the first language or mother tongue, must begin
from
the early
years as early childhood care and education is the foundation of learning.
UNESCO’s
celebration of International Mother Language Day calls on policy-makers,
educators and teachers, parents and families to scale up their commitment to
multilingual education, and inclusion in education to advance education
recovery in the context of COVID-19”.
Background
of International Mother Language Day: The celebration came up in tribute to the
Language Movement sacrificed by the Bangladeshis (then the East Pakistanis).
When Pakistan was created in 1947, it had two separate geographical locations:
East Pakistan (presently known as Bangladesh) and West Pakistan (known as
Pakistan). In 1948, the then Government of undivided Pakistan declared Urdu to
be the only national language of Pakistan, albeit Bengali/Bangla was spoken by
the majority of people of then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). The people of
East Pakistan protested. They claimed Bangla/Bengali should be one of the
national languages, in addition to Urdu.
Unfortunately
to counter the protest, the Government of Pakistan banned public meetings,
rallies etc. The students of the University of Dhaka, with the support of the
general public, arranged huge rallies and meetings. But unfortunately on 21
February 1952, police opened fire on rallies and killed Abdus Salam, Abul
Barkat, Rafiq Uddin Ahmed, Abdul Jabbar and Shafiur Rahman and also hundreds of
others injured. This was a rare incident in history, where people sacrificed
their lives for their mother tongue.
Long live
International Mother Language Day.
1) https://blog.busuu.com/most-spoken-languages-in-the-world/
2) https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/motherlanguageday
3) https://en.unesco.org/sites/default/files/imld_2021_concept_note_en.pdf
4) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Mother_Language_Day
DDr Shankar Chatterjee, Hyderabad
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