International Mother Language Day and the Fate of Native Language Education and Publishing in Iran After Decades of Deprivation

International “Mother Language Day” arrives at a time when the Balochi-Persian Dictionary, written and compiled by Dr. Abdolghafoor Jahandieh, has recently been selected as Iran’s Book of the Year.

Wednesday, February 21, the 2nd of Esfand, is International Mother Language Day, which was designated as such by UNESCO about 20 years ago.

This day marks the anniversary of Bengali students being killed and wounded in Pakistan, who 67 years ago participated in a peaceful demonstration demanding official recognition of the Bengali language by the government, but were met with a harsh crackdown by Pakistani police.

In Iran as well, until recent years, there was no opportunity to teach mother languages in schools and universities alongside the Persian language. Despite their teaching being permitted under the Constitution, no authorization was issued in this regard until not long ago.

Abdolsattar Doushoki, head of the Balochistan Studies Center in London, previously stated in this regard: “In Iran, the legitimate demand for reading, writing, learning, and speaking in one’s mother language has been regarded as an enemy’s ploy along ethnic fault lines and in line with the disintegration of Iran, and with a security-minded and repressive approach, it is marginalized.”

In recent years, permission to teach Azerbaijani Turkish, Kurdish, and Balochi languages has been issued on a limited basis in a few universities, but even this step has faced obstacles.

Source: Voice of America