In classrooms across Sylhet, mother-tongue textbooks for indigenous children are meant to be opened, spoken aloud and lived through. Too often, they remain closed and unused.

There is clear evidence that learning in multiple languages, starting with the mother tongue and then gradually adding national and global languages, is good for cognitive abilities and does not impair language skills in second and third languages.

Many of the mother tongues spoken by Adivasi and other smaller ethnic communities are at risk of extinction.

On International Mother Language Day, the story of the Bawm language in Bangladesh stands as both a testament to resilience and a warning of fragility.

At present, Kokborok has very limited written and literary development in Bangladesh.

The word ‘Hyow’ refers to the Chin ethnic community, which belongs to the South Central (formerly Kuki-Chin) branch of the Tibeto-Burman language family.

The panel supplied a critical as well as emotional commentary on the issues of linguistic hegemonisation, power imbalances, the marginalisation of non-Bangali languages and identities, and the aftermath of the revolutionary spirit of July 2024

Dream behind indigenous textbooks remains unfulfilled

There is a lack of recognition for Indigenous writers and publishers at national events like the Amar Ekushey Book Fair.

Indigenous women are read even less. There are multiple root causes–lack of editorial support for indigenous authors writing in their mother tongues, the predominance of oral traditions, gender inequality and bias.

The government must take steps to preserve near-extinct languages