Updates

The International Mother Language Day on 21 February has been observed since 2000. It was proclaimed by the General Conference of UNESCO  (The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) on November 1999 (30C/62).

The aim of International Mother Language Day is to promote and protect linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. It also aims to develop fuller awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue.

Theme of International Mother Language Day 2012

The theme for 2012 is “Mother tongue instruction and inclusive education”, which highlights the importance of mother tongue as part of the right to education and encourages member states to promote education in the mother languages.

Using mother tongue at school: a powerful remedy against illiteracy

The UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova underlines, in her dedicated message, the importance of protecting linguistic diversity and the fact that "linguistic diversity accelerates the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and Education for All goals in particular." 

 Allowing indigenous peoples "to learn from a very early age in their mother tongue, and then in national, official or other languages", UNESCO Director-General says, "promotes equality and social inclusion." And she quotes Nelson Mandela, “if you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart."

International Mother Language Day in Africa

With over 3000 languages spoken in Africa, many African countries are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of their linguistic inheritance as not only a social and cultural issue, but indeed a vital political issue as well as a tool for development, progress and stability. 

Yet, the language of instruction is often not the mother language of the teacher or the learner, but in either French, Portuguese, Arabic or English.

In South Africa, which has 11 official languages of which most are regional, English is the language of education in most schools. South African parents believe that education in English will provide their child with a better education and more opportunities and do not support schools that provide teaching in mother languages. Yet, multilingualism is enshrined in the South African Constitution, providing everyone with the right to speak and receive education in their mother language.

UNESCO's Regional Bureau for Education in Dakar makes the point that while the introduction of national languages in schools of Senegal has been on governments' educational agenda for decades, the use of national languages is far from becoming a reality.

In 2011 Rwanda, however, changed the official school language for young learners from French to Kinyarwanda, the mother language of Rwanda.

Background to the International Mother Language Day

The date represents the day in 1952 when students demonstrating for recognition of their language, Bangla, as one of the two national languages of the then Pakistan, were shot and killed by police in Dhaka, the capital of what is now Bangladesh.