International Mother Language Day 2022: Date, theme, history and facts about Indian languages

International Mother Language Day or Matribhasha Diwas is observed every year on February 21 to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism around the world.

The idea to celebrate International Mother Language Day first came from Bangladesh.

The general conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO decided to celebrate February 21 as International Mother Language Day in November, 1999.

The United Nations (UN) general assembly in 2002 welcomed the decision.

On May 16, 2007 the United Nations General Assembly through a resolution called upon member states “to promote the preservation and protection of all languages used by peoples of the world”.

By the same resolution, the general assembly proclaimed 2008 as the International Year of Languages, to “promote unity in diversity and international understanding, through multilingualism and multiculturalism.”

Wordle – the best word to start the game, according to a language researcher

Theme of International Mother Language Day 2022:

“Using technology for multilingual learning: Challenges and opportunities”.

It focuses on the potential role of technology to advance multilingual education and support the development of quality teaching and learning for all.

Technology has the potential to address some of the greatest challenges in education today.

It can accelerate efforts towards ensuring equitable and inclusive lifelong learning opportunities for all if it is guided by the core principles of inclusion and equity.

Multilingual education based on mother tongue is a key component of inclusion in education.

During COVID-19 school closures, many countries around the world employed technology-based solutions to maintain continuity of learning.

A recent UNESCO, UNICEF, World Bank and OECD survey on national education responses to COVID-19 school closures of 143 countries showed that 96 per cent of high-income countries provided remote learning through online platforms for at least one education level compared to only 58 percent of low-income countries.

In low-income contexts, the majority of countries reported using broadcast media such as television (83%) and radio (85%) to support continuity of learning.

International Day of Sign Languages : Theme, History, Significance and facts

Interesting facts about languages in India:

• India’s treasure trove: India has 234 identifiable mother tongues, 121 languages and around 22 official languages! Sindhi, Konkani, Nepali, Manipuri, Maithili, Dogri, Bodo and Santhali are the languages which were added to the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution after amendments in the Constitution. Earlier, there were 14 languages which were initially included in the Constitution.
• English and Hindi as official languages: The Constitution of India designates English and Hindi as the official languages of the Government of India. However, as per Article 343 (1) of the Indian Constitution, it is only the Hindi written in Devanagari Script that is accepted as the official language of the Union Government.
• Legal language: The Supreme Court and High Court use English as their official language as directed by the Constitution of India.
• The categories: Almost every Indian language falls into one of the four groups: Afro-Asiatic, Dravidian, Indo-Aryan, and Sino-Tibetan.
• Meet the classics: Because of their history and having stood the test of time, languages like Tamil, Sanskrit, Malayalam, Odia, and Telugu have been honored with the classical languages status.
• The difference: In Uttarakhand, Sanskrit is used as the second official language; Jammu and Kashmir uses Urdu and for Goa its Konkani.
• Did you know?: Telugu is known as the ‘Italian of the East’. And, even today, French is commonly spoken in Puducherry!
• Languages of the islanders: Apart from Nicobarese, people of Andaman and Nicobar Islands also speak Bengali, Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu.
• Sanskrit’s German connect: Did you our good ol’ Sanskrit is a popular language in Germany with more than 10 universities in the country offering Sanskrit as a subject!
• Ancient roots: Nearly all Indian scripts come from the same script named Brahmi and most of the major Indian epics were written in Sanskrit!