STAFF CORRESPONDENT

Bangla Academy President Prof Abul Quasem Fazlul Huq at a seminar yesterday stressed the need to preserve the languages of indigenous communities and provide education in their mother tongues.

“We need to expand the use of mother tongues in the education sector. The languages of indigenous communities must be preserved,” he said.

He made these remarks at a national seminar at the International Mother Language Institute in Dhaka.

The organisation arranged the seminar under the theme “Multilingualism and Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education”.

Fazlul Huq, a former professor of Bangla at Dhaka University, said the standard of the Bangla language in the country is declining.

He attributed this to the decreasing interest in Bangla literature among the younger generation, largely due to the dominance of the English language and the influence of social media.

“This is also causing the distortion of Bangla, which is significantly lowering the quality of our language,” he added.

While delivering the keynote speech, Prof Mohammad Moninoor Rashid of the Institute of Education and Research at DU underscored the necessity of preserving and promoting cultural diversity through the advancement of multilingualism.

Three more papers were presented at the seminar.