Towards Sustainable Futures through Multilingual Education
On
the occasion of this Day, I launch an appeal for the potential of
multilingual education to be acknowledged everywhere, in education and
administrative systems, in cultural expressions and the media,
cyberspace and trade.
Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director-General
Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director-General
UNESCO celebrates International Mother Language Day
(IMLD) on February 21, 2017 under the theme “Towards Sustainable Futures
through Multilingual Education”. To foster sustainable development,
learners must have access to education in their mother tongue and in
other languages. It is through the mastery of the first language or
mother tongue that the basic skills of reading, writing and numeracy are
acquired. Local languages, especially minority and indigenous, transmit
cultures, values and traditional knowledge, thus playing an important
role in promoting sustainable futures.
What is multilingual education?
Multilingual
education facilitates access to education while promoting equity for
populations speaking minority and/or indigenous languages, especially
girls and women:
- It emphasizes the quality of teaching and learning with a focus on understanding and creativity;
- It reinforces the cognitive aspect of learning by ensuring the direct application of learning outcomes to the learner’s life through the mother tongue
- It enhances dialogue and interaction between learner and teacher by allowing genuine communication from the beginning.
- It facilitates participation and action in society and gives access to new knowledge and cultural expressions, thus ensuring a harmonious interaction between the global and the local.
No comments:
Post a Comment