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Commemoration of International Mother Language Day
CHIPAWO
March 12, 2010

In this age of globalisation and especially for us here in Africa, as a children's arts education and culture organisation, CHIPAWO attaches importance to the efforts to promote and develop mother tongue expression.

CHIPAWO has been commemorating International Mother Language Day for a number of years. 21st February is International Mother Language Day and this year the commemoration will take place at St Michael's School in Mbare, Harare, on Saturday, 13th March, starting at 10am. All who wish to join in celebrating and paying respect to a child's right to use his or her mother tongue freely, are welcome to attend.

Those who are too far away to come are asked simply to note the importance of mother tongue and the need to promote and develop it in Zimbabwe.

International Mother Language Day was adopted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in November 1999 and it recognises that "promoting linguistic diversity and multilingual education and ensuring that these languages can continue in use alongside the major international languages of communication is a genuine challenge to countries worldwide."

Performing on the programme in Mbare on Saturday will be CHIPAWO's arts education centres in Harare, Chitungwiza, Norton and Bindura. They will perform songs, poems and drama in the mother tongue, including Shona, Ndebele, Nyanja, and Ndau.

A message on Mother Language will be read out to them and children and others invited to the events will then hold discussions on the theme.

The world's nearly 6,000 languages were celebrated on International Mother Language Day this year. According to Resolution 12 of UNESCO's 30th General Conference there's a need to recognise the great importance of safeguarding the linguistic and cultural heritage of humanity and extending the influence of each of the cultures and languages of which that heritage is composed, and considering the current threat to linguistic diversity posed by the globalisation of communication and the tendency to use a single language, at the risk of marginalizing the other major languages of the world, or even of causing the lesser-used languages, including regional languages, to disappear."

UNESCO's declaration of 21st February as the International Mother Language Day was inspired by the Bangladesh Language Movement's protest on 21st February 1952 against the imposition of Urdu as the state language when the troops of the government opened fire on the unarmed demonstrators, most of whom were students. With the declaration of 21st February as the International Mother Language Day, the day has transcended the national borders of Bangladesh and acquired an international significance and a global dimension.

'Is technology friend or foe when it comes to preserving local languages?' That was one of the questions posed as part of a two-day event to mark the 11th International Mother Language Day (IMLD). This year it is celebrated as part of the 2010 - International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures. According to UNESCO, IMLD grows in importance each year with more and more countries organizing educational and cultural events.

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