International Mother Language Day
The 21st of February is of special significance to the people of Bangladesh. Each year, on this date, the country commemorates International Mother Language Day in recognition of the preservation of Bangla as the official language of Bangladesh. At the request of the people of Bangladesh and after investigating the matter, UNESCO declared the 21st of February each year to be International Mother Language Day on a world-wide scale among United Nations member countries. What makes the 21st of February so special?
The events leading up to the adoption of the 21st of February as International Mother Language Day started when the Governor General of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, declared at a public meeting on 21 March 1948 that Urdu would be the only official language for both east and west Pakistan. The majority of the people living in eastern Pakistan were Bangla-speaking and therefore protested against this declaration. A student meeting called for a strike on 21 February, a move which the Pakistani government would not tolerate. Five of the students who were campaigning for Bangla to be recognized as one of the state languages of Pakistan were shot and killed by police. The slain students are seen as martyrs for their cause, which turned out to be the beginning of Bangladesh’s struggle for independence.
Each year the 21st of February was commemorated as Language Martyrs Day in Bangladesh and other parts of the world that have sizeable groups of Bangla-speaking people. In 1999 the proposal was made to UNESCO to create International Mother Language Day in the belief that a culture of peace can only really flourish where each individual enjoys the right to communicate freely in their mother language in all aspects of their lives. UNESCO supports this conviction, as well as the belief that there should be cultural and linguistic diversity in education and the preservation of languages in danger of dying out. So at the 30th session of the General Conference of UNESCO in 1999 the decision was taken to launch International Mother Language Day throughout the world.
In Bangladesh, International Mother Language Day is commemorated with events taking place primarily around the Language Martyr’s Monument in Dhaka. Many people bring flowers, mainly in red and yellow, which are spread out in front of the monument. It is a solemn day as respect is paid to the martyrs who brought to the world’s attention the necessity of keeping marginalized languages alive.
User Comments & Reviews
2010-03-10 05:29:51
Indeed 21st February is a very important day for us bangladeshi. But we are trying to adopt the western culture when we celebrate 21st February, for example, lighting candles, placing flowers in the Shohid Menar and being silent for a minute. Why can't we at least pray for the dead. I know i am speaking from a religious perspective but wouldn't it be helpful if we pray for those brothers and sisters of ours, doesn't matter what religion we follow. When i turn on the TV on the 21st february all i see are people who are trying to just be followers of the western culture. Our brothers fought for the land where not our culture spread but where other cultures are being adopted. Thank you to those who reads this. Please spread my culture and not adopt from others
2010-02-21 18:12:37
Thanks for this great info. I am writing a blog on learning Bangla. If anybody want to learn some Bangla before visit Bangladesh, they may contact in my blog at http://learnbangla.blogspot.com.
2010-02-21 06:20:11
• It goes without saying that ours is a Nation, a Culture and a Country that alone can take the pride of being able to shed blood as well as sacrifice lives for one of the noblest causes, i.e. the Right to uphold the importance of The Mother Language. Mankind had witnessed this unique magnitude of cultural awareness, possibly, for the first time in the History. I believe the Bangalee Nation, as the Vanguard, can call upon all other nations, cultures, sub-cultural entities, ethnic entities & linguistic groups and can appeal to the Human Conscience to come forward and join the next phase of the Language Movement: Safeguarding the Endangered Languages, no matter how small number of people speak them or whether they have any alphabet. I feel deeply thankful to UNESCO for recognizing this Historic and Heroic event that took place in 21 February 1952 known as Language Movement Day in Bangladesh. With the proclamation of the International Mother Language Day by UNESCO the importance of this particular day has transcended it's geographic boundary (from National to international), so to say, from Bangalee Cultural to Multicultural arena. • Recently, I read an article in The Daily Star, a widely circulated English Daily of Bangladesh, that quotes from some American science journal to say that even the Newborn (Nascent) babies cry in their own mother language! As a Life-Long student of Society and Culture I have been overwhelmed by this finding, which upholds my firm belief that human-beings are in truest sense Cultural Beings or Sociocultural Beings. Ever since the proclamation of International Mother Language Day in 1999 by UNESCO we all should have taken much more vigourous role to serve this greater interest of the Humanity. Our capital, Dhaka, could have witnessed the establishment of a Multilingual Centre of Excellence here dedicated to the cause of Mother Language, as "languages are mankind’s principal tools for interacting and for expressing ideas, emotions, knowledge, memories and values", in a world, the essence of the culture as a whole. To be more precise, languages are primary vehicles of cultural expressions and intangible cultural heritage, essential to the identity of individuals, groups, cultures and nations. We have miles to go. • Valiant sons of our soil the Immortal Martyrs of the Language Movement had served the noblest purpose in the history of not only the Bangalee Nation, also in that of the mankind leaving behind a huge task for the posterity to accomplish. I know that UNESCO has been undertaking number of activities every year. Let's move ahead with the mission to make the dreams of our Language Martyrs come true! Md Zahurul Alam, ndc A Civil Servant of the GOB
2010-02-16 19:40:26
21th Feb is a very important day in our national & international life.So we all should respect it with proper imagination.The brave sons of bangla ma give their lives to make sure that we can speak in bangla.We also should pray to allah that they get jannat.
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