Ranjan Kumar Padmapati
(The writer can be reached at rkpadmapati@yahoo.co.in)
International Mother Language Day is observed every year on the 21st of February to emphasize education, through the mother tongue. There are 7000+ languages in the world of which 2,680 are in danger of extinction. In India, potentially 600 languages are similarly threatened. Ninety-seven percent of the world’s population speaks about 4% of the world’s languages. The warning is that 50-90 % of all languages will become extinct within 100 years if not preserved. Another interesting aspect is that 40% of the children do not have access to education in a language they understand, according to UNESCO and 617 million children do not achieve proficiency level in reading. The background story of celebrating International Mother Language Day goes as follows- in 1948 Pakistan declared Urdu to be the sole official language in Pakistan. This infuriated the Bengali-speaking people, anger erupted in the form of a strong protest at the Decca University in erstwhile East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. Students and the public gathered at Decca University on 21st February 1952 to protest against the imposition of Urdu, police opened fire on the gathering and as a result, six students attained martyrdom and many were injured. In 1998, two nonresident Bangladeshis from Canada, Rafiqul Islam and Abdus Salam, wrote a letter to Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the UNO, requesting him to dedicate one day for glorifying mother tongues of the world on 21 February, to commemorate the killings of those 6 students at Decca University who attained martyrdom for the cause of their mother tongue. Finally on 17th November 1999, the 30th general assembly of UNESCO, unanimously resolved, “That 21st of February be proclaiming International Mother Language Day of the world, to promote the preservation, and protection of all languages used by the people of the world.” Bangladeshees installed a Shaheed Memorial at Decca, also one such memorial in London to pay homage to the martyrs.
The year 2025 marks the Silver Jubilee celebration as it completes the 25th year of celebrations with the theme “Language Matters.” This underscores the role of languages in improving learning outcomes, quality of education, and empowerment of girls and women. The day is gaining much momentum highlighting awareness of the preservation of non–dominant, minority and indigenous languages of the world. Language is considered a tool to be used to empower the human race to make meaningful contributions to achieving all SDGs. Communicating ways and guidelines of SDGs to educate the human race is very crucial and it is the mother tongues through which a maximum number of the village folk could be reached, leaving no one behind. Building a more sustainable and inclusive world by 2030 primarily depends on the extent of coverage of the world’s population in the mission of literacy and numeracy. Mother language is the fastest means of eradicating illiteracy and reducing the gender gap within the shortest time. Language matters, mother language instils the deepest grasping power. Well-delivered quality education in the mother language provides employment, better health, higher salary and a strong economy.
Now mother language is the top priority of education and its importance is felt in the learning process at one’s nursery stage, in the pre-primary stage and also beyond. It has been proved by research that learning in one’s mother tongue enhances learning capabilities, engagement and critical thinking. Other secondary languages can be learnt at a later stage gradually. An added advantage of teaching in a household language is that parents can supervise children at home in their learning process. When education is through a foreign language parents’ role in their children’s growth is very much skewed. Mother language is the language in which children converse at home, and use it with playmates and with members of immediate society. If the school environment is different from that of the household atmosphere the child lands on an unfamiliar platform and finds it difficult to cope with. India as a colonial country followed a monolingual approach in the past giving much emphasis on English, leading to the marginalization of regional languages and mother tongues.
It is a matter of concern that 37% of children in low and middle income group countries lack this learning opportunities in mother tongue. Multilingual education is in line with the Government of India’s NEP 2020; here emphasis is laid on a multilingual approach which is flexible and choosy to individual requirements. It allows a student to learn in their mother language or regional language and side-by-side English. Mother language enables better understanding and transfer of the structure of the language to several other new languages. The first language should not be excluded from the curriculum even when the second language becomes the medium of instruction. Mahatma Gandhi supported the uplift and development of all Indigenous languages and said, “I must cling to my mother tongue as to my mother’s breast despite its shortcomings.” At the same time, he did not ignore the importance of the English language for international commerce and diplomacy.
If a language is lost it takes away its culture, history, traditional knowledge and above all, people’s identity. Another important finding of UNESCO is that if children are taught in the household language, more of the students attend schools and girls from rural backgrounds continue their education for a longer time, school dropout is reduced. School dropout is due to the complexity of the medium of instruction which they cannot follow. Nelson Mandela commented, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands it goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language it goes to his heart.” It has been seen that during the last seven years, a total of 8066 vernacular medium schools either merged or permanently closed down in Assam, of which the number of Lower Primary level was 6032 and Upper Primary level was 2,034. This is due to low enrolment levels in government-run vernacular medium schools. Free textbooks, uniforms mid-day meals etc., are not been able to attract the guardians to vernacular medium schools. Private English medium schools have taken the lead and attracted the most because of better infrastructure and availability of modern teaching tools, of course, better results. The first and foremost responsibility of the government towards vernacular medium schools is to improve the infrastructure and the quality of teaching. In the context of granting classical status to the Assamese language enough is to be done to improve upon the standards of vernacular medium schools.