International Mother Language Day 2022

International Mother Language Day is celebrated on February 21. More than 20 years ago, at the General Assembly, UNESCO passed a provision marking the International Day of Languages as a remembrance of the unpleasant event from 1952. Namely, in Dhaka in eastern Pakistan, on the territory of today's Bangladesh, a rebellion of students who protested demanding respect for the right to learn in their mother tongue was brutally suppressed. All protesters were killed then.

The International Mother Language Day is celebrated on February 21 as a memory of that unpleasant event.

The celebration of International Mother Language Day has recognized the important of languages and multiculturism for advancement in inclusion. Also, UNESCO believes that the education that is based on the mother tongue or the first language must begin in early childhood. It is important since the education is the foundation of learning.

In the 2022 International Mother Language Day has been celebrate with the theme “Using technology for multilingual learning: Challenges and opportunities.” The celebration has highlighted the potential role of technology to advance multilingual education and support the development of quality teaching and learning for all. It has been recognized that technology can be the solution for the challenges in the today’s education. The technology can accelerate efforts towards inclusive lifelong learning, guided by the core principles of inclusion and equity. The key component of the inclusion is multilingual education based on the mother tongue.

Furthermore, the pandemic of COVID-19 led to school closures in many countries around the globe. The schools, and whole education systems faced problems like lacking the technological infrastructure to perform the studies. Also, teaching distance has become a problem. The content is not always able to reflet the language diversity. Those just one of many problems that education systems are facing and that must be addressed immediately.