Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage Yumna Maumoon has called on schools and teachers to use innovative methods in teaching Dhivehi language in order to retain the interest of students to the language.
In a message published on the occasion of International Mother Language Day, Minister Yumna said more efforts are needed to draw the interest of young generations to the Dhivehi language. The minister highlighted the importance of parents speaking to their children in their mother language when they learn to speak, and providing books to read. She added the methods used to teach Dhivehi language need to be revised to retain the interest of students to the language.
In her message, Minister Yumna highlighted the sacrifice of the individuals who gave up their lives defending their mother language as part of the Bengali Language Movement in 1952. The minister noted this day is marked to assert the importance of preserving languages and carrying them forward to future generations. Noting about two-thirds of the nearly 7,000 languages spoken around the world are expected to become extinct during this century, the minister urged all Maldivians to scale up efforts to preserve the mother language of the nation which is an important part of the national identity.