INTERNATIONAL MOTHER LANGUAGE DAY

Sahitya Thoupang Lup (Sathoulup) in collaboration with Mother Language Lovers’ of the World (Manipur Chapter, India) will celebrate International Mother Language Day at Manipur Press Club, Imphal on February 21, 2017 at 1.20pm.

The celebration will highlight talks on Natural Language Processing by Dr. Babloo Yumnam, Paite Language by Dr. R. Sanga and Kabui Language by D. L. Kabui. It will be followed by poetry reading of different writers in their respective languages.

Meghachandra Kongbam, Director of Information and Public Relations, Government of Manipur will be the Chief Guest and Prof. Chungkham Yasobanta, President, Mother Language Lovers’ of the World (Manipur Chapter, India) will preside over the function.

Sahitya Akademi Awardee and eminent poet Saratchand Thiyam will deliver the key note address of the celebration.

International Mother Language Day (IMLD) is a worldwide annual observance held on 21 February to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. First announced by UNESCO on 17 November 1999, International Mother Language Day has been being observed since 2000 to promote peace and multilingualism. The date corresponds to the day in 1952 when students from the University of Dhaka, Jagannath College and Dhaka Medical College, demonstrating for the recognition of Bengali as one of the two national languages of East Pakistan, were brutally shot dead by police (then under Pakistan government) near the Dhaka High Court in the capital of present-day Bangladesh.

This year, UNESCO celebrates International Mother Language Day under the theme- “Towards Sustainable Futures through Multilingual Education”. To foster sustainable development, learners must have access to education in their mother tongue and in other languages. Local languages, especially minority and indigenous, transmit cultures, values and traditional knowledge, thus playing an important role in promoting sustainable futures.

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