International Mother Language Day on 21st February – 2021

It is to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism around the world

• International Mother Language Day or Matribhasha Diwas was observed on February 21 – 2021
• It is to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism around the world
• This year’s theme is Fostering multilingualism for inclusion in education and society

Multilingualism for inclusion in education and society

• International Mother Language Day 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
• This year’s observance is a call on policymakers, 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
• This effort also contributes to the United Nations International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022-2032), for which UNESCO is the lead agency, and which places multilingualism at the heart of indigenous peoples’ development

Safeguarding Linguistic Diversity

• Languages, with their complex implications for identity, communication, social integration, education and development, are of strategic importance for people and planet
• Yet, due to globalization processes, they are increasingly under threat, or disappearing altogether
• When languages fade, so does the world’s rich tapestry of cultural diversity. Opportunities, traditions, memory, unique modes of thinking and expression — valuable resources for ensuring a better future — are also lost
• Every two weeks a language disappears taking with it an entire cultural and intellectual heritage and at least 43% of the estimated 6000 languages spoken in the world are endangered
• Only a few hundred languages have genuinely been given a place in education systems and the public domain, and less than a hundred are used in the digital world
• Multilingual and multicultural societies exist through their languages which transmit and preserve traditional knowledge and cultures in a sustainable way

History of International Mother Language Day

• The reason why International Mother Language Day falls on 21st February is that, in 1952, four young students were killed in Bangladesh during a protest because of a Bengali and Urdu language controversy
• After this unfortunate incident and many years of unrest, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) decided to make International Mother Language Day an annual event, celebrated around the world
• On November 17th, 1999 UNESCO proclaimed February 21st to be International Mother Language Day. It was first observed on February 21st, 2000

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