International Mother Language Day recognizes that languages and multilingualism can advance inclusion, and the Sustainable Development Goals’ focus on leaving no one behind. UNESCO encourages and promotes multilingual education based on mother tongue or first language. It is a type of education that begins in the language that the learner masters most and then gradually introduces other languages. This approach enables learners whose mother tongue is different from the language of instruction to bridge the gap between home and school, to discover the school environment in a familiar language, and thus, learn better.
Every year, UNESCO commemorates the Day by disseminating information about projects and activities related to the year’s theme.
Theme for 2023
The theme of the 2023 International Mother Language Day, “Multilingual education – a necessity to transform education” aligns with recommendations made during the Transforming Education Summit, where an emphasis was also placed on Indigenous people’s education and languages.
Multilingual education based on mother-tongue facilitates access to and inclusion in learning for population groups that speak non-dominant languages, languages of minority groups and indigenous languages.
UNESCO Involvement
UNESCO works with strategies to strengthen body, mind and heart through wellness in appreciation of our surroundings to help them overcome their challenges and acknowledge their significant contribution to conserving the diversity of the world’s cultural and biological landscape.
UNESCO BMW is an innovative, UNESCO-affiliated organization that uses physical, emotional, and mental balance to encourage inner peace and self-awareness across generations. BMW was
established with the shared purpose of using unorthodox sources of art and culture from all
around us to strengthen, stabilize, and improve the global society. We collaborate with
individuals and groups for peace and harmony.
International Mother Language Day was proclaimed by the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in November 1999. The idea to celebrate International Mother Language Day was the initiative of Bangladesh. The UN General Assembly welcomed the proclamation of the day in its resolution of 2002.
UNESCO’s Vision
Our vision mission encompasses three main goals that are also in line with this occasion today and engage people of all ages, especially the youth-improvement of the inner ecosystem, enhancement of inner creativity through arts and crafts and lastly, encouragement of inner peace on a global level.
Let us come together to to promote unity in diversity and international understanding, through multilingualism and multiculturalism