International Mother Language Day 2023 – ‘Ekushey February’
- February 21, 2023
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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International Mother Language Day 2023 – ‘Ekushey February’
Subject : International Relations
Section : Msc
Concept :
- In recognition of the Bengali people’s struggle for their language and culture, UNESCO announced in 1999 that February 21 would be observed worldwide as International Mother Language Day.
- This year’s theme is “Multilingual education – a necessity to transform education”, emphasising Indigenous people’s education and languages.
International Mother Language Day 2023
- UNESCO promotes this year’s “Multilingual education – a necessity to transform education”, emphasising Indigenous people’s education and languages.
- It also discusses the potential role of technology to advance multilingual education and support the development of quality teaching and learning for all.
- This year, the webinar focuses on two main themes namely;
- Teachers’ role to be enhanced in promoting quality multilingual teaching and learning.
- Reflecting on technologies and their potential to support multilingual teaching and learning.
- UNESCO organizes several events on this day and encourages people to maintain their knowledge of their mother language and learn the use of more than one language.
- Several policies are also announced by governments and non-governmental organizations to promote the learning of language and support.
- Various activities are also organized in schools and colleges to celebrate the diversity of languages.
- Linguistic diversity is increasingly threatened because several languages are disappearing.
- According to UNESCO, 40 percent population of the world does not have access to an education in a language they speak or understand. Therefore, it is necessary to make progress in mother tongue-based multilingual education with the need for understanding its importance.
About 1952 Bengali Language Movement, Bangladesh
- When India gained independence from British rule, the subcontinent of India was divided into a separate Muslim state (East Pakistan and West Pakistan) and a separate Hindu state (India).
- There was a cultural and lingual conflict between East Pakistan (today Bangladesh) and West Pakistan (Today Pakistan).
- In 1948, the government of Pakistan declared Urdu as the national language and due to it, the tensions grew more.
- This decision of the government sparked several violent protests amongst the Bengali-speaking majority in East Pakistan.
- Some students of the University of Dhaka organized a protest with some activists on 21 February 1952. Later that day, the police opened fire at the students, protesters, and four students of the university who were killed.
- The martyrdom of these students who fought for the Bengali language to be used as their mother language officially is remembered on International Mother Language Day.
- Finally on 29 February 1956, Bengali was recognized as the second official language of Pakistan. In 1971, East Pakistan became an independent country namely Bangladesh, and Bengali became its official language.
- As discussed above the General Conference of UNESCO in November 1999 declared International Mother Language Day and on 21st February 2000, the first International Mother language Day was observed.