On 21 st February, the United Nations’ (UN) International Mother Language Day
is observed every year to celebrate linguistic diversity around the world. It
marks the event of the killing of four students on February 21, 1952, in
Bangladesh.
History
In 1947, the Bengal province was divided from India based on the predominant
religions of the inhabitants. The western part of India became West Pakistan
and the eastern part became East Pakistan. There was a huge economic, cultural,
and lingual difference between East and West Pakistan.
In 1948 Pakistan's government declared Urdu as the only national language.
This sparked protests amongst the Bengali-speaking majority in East Pakistan.
On February 21, 1952, students at the University of Dhaka and other activists
organized a protest. The police opened fire, at protestors, killing four students.
Now their sacrifice is remembered on International Mother Language Day.
Bengali speakers continued the protest for their linguistic rights. Bengali
became an official language in Pakistan on February 29, 1956. Following the
Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, Bangladesh became an independent
country with Bengali as its official language.
On November 17, 1999, at the UN General Conference, UNESCO proclaimed
February 21 to be International Mother Language Day and it was first observed
in 2000.
Symbols
The Shaheed Minar (martyr's monument) in Dhaka, Bangladesh, pays homage
to the four demonstrators killed in 1952.
It consists of four standing marble frames and a larger double marble frame
with a slanted top portion. The frames stand on a stage, which is raised about
four meters above the ground. The four frames represent the four men who died
on February 21, 1952, and the double frame represents their mothers and
country.
Replicas of the Shaheed Minar have been constructed worldwide, particularly in
London and Oldham in the United Kingdom. An International Mother
Language Day monument was erected at Ashfield Park in Sydney, Australia, on
February 19, 2006.
Theme 2021
The theme for the year 2021 is, “Fostering multilingualism for inclusion in
education and society”.
This year, the day is a call to all teachers, learned individuals, and policymakers
to give due importance to multilingual education. Especially after Covid 19,
students across the world have lost critical time and to advance the education
recovery, the learned and fortunate need to step up.
According to the United Nations, “Every two weeks a language disappears
taking with it an entire cultural and intellectual heritage. At least 43% of the
estimated 6000 languages spoken in the world are endangered.”
Celebrations
International Mother Language Day is a public holiday in Bangladesh, where it
is also known as Shaheed Diwas. People lay flowers at a Shaheed Minar, eat a
festive meal, organize parties, and host literary competitions and celebrate their
culture and language.
On International Mother Language Day, the UNESCO and UN agencies
participate in events that promote linguistic and cultural diversity. They also
encourage people to learn and use more than one language including their
mother language.
The Linguapax Institute, in Barcelona, Spain, aims to preserve and promote
linguistic diversity globally. The institute presents the Linguapax Prize on this
day every year to those who have made outstanding work in linguistic diversity
or multilingual education.
