KARACHI: The Sindhi department of Karachi Univer­sity on Wednesday organised a seminar on the importance of languages in the present era.

Speaking at the event held in the KU arts auditorium, Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Ajmal Khan said all developed nations of the world were prospering because of their national and mother languages.

Mother tongue is a vital element in a child’s growth. A child’s health will be sound if he constantly hears his mother tongue.

Education provided in mother tongue also has a positive impact on a child’s mental growth.

The significance of mother tongue cannot be undermined in this modern age. The main purpose of commemorating Inter­national Mother Langu­age Day on Feb 21 every year is to raise awareness and promotion of the mother languages of the world.

Director of Shah Abdul Latif Chair at KU Prof Dr Saleem Memon recalled that the significance of the Bengali language was undermined in East Pakistan and five students were martyred during the protest in 1952, including a nine-year-old student. This movement continued and the Bengali language was given national language status in 1956. Now, this movement of mother tongue is in the whole world; it’s the fundamental right of every child to get education in their mother tongue.

He said that in this regard, Bangladeshi Library Asso­cia­tions and Australian associations for mother languages had initiated establishing a corner of mother languages in libraries.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2018