On February 21 each year, the world marks International Mother Language Day (IMLD) with the recognition that languages and multilingualism can advance inclusion, and the Sustainable Development Goals’ focus on leaving no one behind.
According to UNESCO, education based on the first language or mother tongue must begin from the early years as early childhood care and education is the foundation of learning.
The theme of the 2022 International Mother Language Day, ‘Using technology for multilingual learning: Challenges and opportunities’, raises the potential role of technology to advance multilingual education and support the development of quality teaching and learning for all.
Commenting on the theme, the UN stated that technology has the potential to address some of the greatest challenges in education today. A statement issued by the UN noted that technology 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. The UN emphasized that “Multilingual education based on mother tongue is a key component of inclusion in education”.
IMLD 2022 aims to contribute to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 by recognizing the role of teachers in promoting multilingual teaching and learning through technology.
A recent UNESCO, UNICEF, World Bank and OECD survey on national education responses to COVID-19 school closures of 143 countries showed that only 58 percent of low-income countries provided remote learning through online platforms for at least one education level. Most of these countries reported using broadcast media such as television (83%) and radio (85%) to implement distance education. Africa appeared to be the most active in the efforts to leverage either TV or radio (70%), some combining both (34%).
During COVID-19 school closures, many looked to technology-based solutions to maintain continuity of learning. However, the lack of readiness and skills proved to be significant obstacles to distance teaching. Moreover, distance teaching, learning tools, programmes and content were largely provided in official/dominant national or international languages.
In a statement issued to mark the Day, the African Development Bank (AfDB) stated that education, dispensed in a mother tongue, is a key component of inclusion and technology has the potential to tear down educational barriers today.
“Localization (process of adapting a product to a specific country, region or area) includes translation and cultural adaptation of user interfaces and software applications. It makes information and communication technology more accessible to the populations of the poorer countries, increasing its relevance to their lives, needs, and aspirations, and ultimately bridging the digital divide”.
AfDB
Part of the greater global conversation, so to speak, to preserve precious local heritage, culture and wisdom, multilingual learning also seeks to recognize and validate these values in individuals, particularly children, so that they can go on to see themselves not as divided souls or outsiders, but full members of their communities.
Safeguarding Linguistic Diversity
Languages, with their complex implications for identity, communication, social integration, education and development, are of strategic importance for people and planet. Yet, due to globalization processes, they are increasingly under threat, or disappearing altogether. When languages fade, so does the world’s rich tapestry of cultural diversity. Opportunities, traditions, memory, unique modes of thinking and expression — valuable resources for ensuring a better future — are also lost, according to the UN.
“Every two weeks a language disappears taking with it an entire cultural and intellectual heritage. At least 43% of the estimated 6000 languages spoken in the world are endangered. Only a few hundred languages have genuinely been given a place in education systems and the public domain, and less than a hundred are used in the digital world”.
UN
Multilingual and multicultural societies exist through their languages which transmit and preserve traditional knowledge and cultures in a sustainable way. International Mother Language Day is observed every year to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism.
International Mother Language Day was proclaimed by the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in November 1999. The UN General Assembly welcomed the proclamation of the day in its resolution of 2002.
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