21st February is also known as the ‘Amor Ekushey’, the root of the Bengali Nationalism and an independent country, Bangladesh. The International Mother Language Day on 21st February is observed worldwide to promote the awareness of the cultural diversity, linguistic and multilingualism.
On November 17, 1999, UNESCO declared 21 February as International Mother language Day for our unique sacrifice for mother language. There is no nation in the world who fought and sacrificed their life for their mother tongue. It is an honor given by the international community on Language Movement of Bangladesh. The movement was made on the strength to preserve the privileges to speak and write in some one’s mother tongue. More than 280 million people speak in the Bangla language across the world currently.
The day of International Mother Language (IMD )has been celebrated since 2000 to create awareness of multilingualism and peace worldwide. It was officially recognized in 2008 under the United Nations General Assembly’s resolution to establish.
Australian Federal Parliament has passed a legislation to celebrate 21 February as an international Mother language day officially on 17 Feb-2018.
21 February is the most memorable annual day in the history of Bangladesh. It’s a national day with a public holiday to commemorate the sacrifices and protests to protect Bangla as the national language in 1952.
21 February has a large value and significance for the Bengali nation. On this day they get the right to speak and write in their mother language after donating a huge amount blood under the shooting of the Pakistani Police. It acted as the catalyst of the identity of the Bengali national in the East Bengal.
It also became the ancestor to the movements of the Bengali nationalist, including the Movement of the 6-point and finally the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971. 21 February is the National Day of the country with a public holiday. There is a Shaheed Minar (the Martyrs’ Monument) near the Dhaka Medical College to remember the victims and the movement.
Recently Library Association of Bangladesh, Bangladesh National UNESCO Commission, International Mother Language Institute, Mother Languages Conservation Movement Sydney, Australia are jointly going to organize an International Seminar on Building Ekushe Corner in every library around the world at International Mother Language Institute, Dhaka, Bangladesh on 28 February 2017. And we hope every librarian of the world will take initiative to establish Ekuse Corner in the library to save all the languages of the world.
