UNESCO urges teaching from earliest age in indigenous mother languages (fwd)

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UNESCO urges teaching from earliest age in indigenous mother languages
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=9832&Cr=UNESCO&Cr1=#

20 February 2004 – With an average of two indigenous languages dying out
every month, the United Nations cultural agency has called for national
education systems to teach children in mother tongues from the earliest
age as a means both of stimulating learning ability and preserving the
world’s rich heritage of linguistic diversity.

“It is widely acknowledged nowadays that teaching in both the mother
tongue and the official national language helps children to obtain
better results and stimulates their cognitive development and capacity
to learn,” the Director-General of the UN Education, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Koïchiro Matsuura, said in a message for
International Mother Language Day, which is celebrated on 21 February.

UNESCO’s General Conference 1999 proclaimed the Day in recognition of
the importance of the world’s linguistic diversity and to promote
mother tongue languages. But a survey being undertaken by the agency
indicates that although the use of mother languages as a medium of
instruction is gaining ground, few countries have incorporated the idea
into their education systems.

The study shows that India is one of the world leaders in the
development of multilingual education systems, with about 80 languages
being used to teach children at different levels of schooling. But
across Africa, where an estimated 2,011 languages are spoken, the
languages of the former colonial powers - English, French, Spanish and
Portuguese - still dominate education systems. A similar situation
prevails in Latin America.

According to the “Atlas of the World Languages in Danger of
Disappearing” there are more than 6,000 languages spoken in the world
today. Ninety five percent of these languages are spoken by only four
percent of the population, and an average of two die out each month.