Celebration of Mother Tongue Day 2015

9 March 2015

Maps International High held a special function on 5^th March 2015 to celebrate International Mother Tongue Day 2015. This day is annually marked on 21^st February. It has been 15 years since Maldives has started marking mother tongue day.

The function started with the recital of Holy Quran and the translation of the recited verses by Dheema Hassan from Gr 11.

The Importance of Conserving and acknowledging the Mother Language was addressed in ‘Huvadhoo’ accent by Shizna Saeed of Grade 11. In her speech, she emphasized on the theme set by UNESCO for mother language 2015, “Inclusive Education through and with language – Language matters.” She further highlighted on the significance of establishing equal opportunities for everyone in education in their mother tongue ensuring inclusiveness and bolstering reading and writing skills resulting in a greater prospect in higher education for a larger number of citizens.

Her speech was translated in the most commonly used or central accent of Dhivehi Language by Fathimath Raufa of Grade 11.This was followed by a special form of poem (ban’dhi) recitation by a group of students.

This auspicious gathering was chaired by a Dhivehi Language Committee member from the Dhivehi Language Academy of Maldives, Mr. Adam Naseer.

He addressed on the impact of mother tongue in building the intellectual capability of citizens, benefits of providing education in mother tongue and ease of access to information. He further noted that it is evident from results of several researches conducted by UNESCO that mother tongue is a force for quality learning and is essential to strengthen multilingualism and respect for linguistic and cultural diversity in developing societies.

He further stressed on the significance of a mother tongue indicating that it is one of the essential features to be independent as a nation, unique and united as a society with a rich varied culture and tradition.

This ceremony concluded with a special performance by the students demonstrating some of the most common errors used in spoken and written Dhivehi language.

Students were dressed in national costume for this special function.