About International Mother Language Day
The United Nations’ (UN) International Mother Language Day is annually observed since February 21, 2000. International Mother Language Day (IMLD) is a global observance worldwide except in Bangladesh, where it is a public holiday (also known as Shohid Dibôsh). It is observed globally not only to promote peace, but also to foster awareness of linguistic, cultural diversity as well as promoting multilingualism and to protect all mother languages.
IMLD was first proposed by the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on 17 November 1999. This was made possible through UN resolution (A/RES/61/266) where the United Nations General Assembly called upon its members to promote the preservation and protection against all global languages on 16 May 2009 starting with 2008 being acknowledged as the International Year of Languages that very much assist in promoting unity in diversity and international understanding through multilingualism and multiculturalism.
The resolution was first mooted by a Bengali named Rafiqul Islam who lives in Vancouver, Canada where on 9 January 1998, we wrote a letter Kofi Annan requesting his assistance to save the world’s languages from extinction by pronouncing a special day known as International Mother Language Day. Rafiq proposed 21 February as the date for celebrating IMLD to commemorate the killings of four students in Dhaka during their Language Movement campaign to officially use their mother language (Bengali) in Bangladesh on February 21, 1952.
The conflict continued ever since and not until February 29, 1956, the Bengali language was announced officially as Pakistan’s national language. Hence, after the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, Bangladesh was declared as an independent country that uses Bengali as their mother language.
International Mother Language Day Activities
The public can always participate in events organized by the UN’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) along with any participating UN agencies worldwide. There are various IMLD activities lined up for the public which are related to the promotional of linguistic and cultural diversity. This is to encourage the public to be more knowledgeable of their mother language and at the same time, provide a platform for them to learn more than one language. For example, the Linguapax Institute, in Barcelona, Spain introduced the Linguapax Prize on International Mother Language Day annually for selected person, who have made outstanding work in linguistic diversity or multilingual education.
Apart from that, governments and non-governmental organizations can also participate by announcing certain policies that inspires the public to take up language learning as well as providing their support.
International Mother Language Day Flowers
Flowers are used to celebrate International Mother Language Day internationally. Decorate innovative IMLD flowers whenever you celebrate the day together with your friends, families or colleagues within your organization, schools or universities. The people in Bangladesh never fail to lay beautiful floral arrangements at a Shaheed Minar (martyr’s monument) each year on February 21, which is the anniversary of a pivotal day in the Bangladesh’s history. Floral bouquets are also presented as award prizes during literary competitions during IMLD.