Deputy Minister Mabudafhasi to observe the International Mother Language Day with future language practitioners
Arts and Culture Deputy Minister, Ms Rejoice Mabudafhasi will meet and interact with future Language practitioners on Saturday, 21 February 2015 to observe the annual International Mother Language Day. The theme for the Day is "Inclusion in and through education: Language counts". This occasion will take place at the University of Limpopo, Turf loop Campus, in Mankweng, Limpopo Province.
The International Mother Language Day was proclaimed by the General Conference of UNESCO in 1999 in order to promote awareness of multilingualism, linguistic and cultural diversity. Celebrated on 21 February annually, this Day commemorates an incident in 1952 when four students in Bangladesh were killed during demonstrations to recognise their mother tongue as an official language.
Mabudafhasi will use this event to meet and interact with the beneficiaries of the Department of Arts and Culture’s language bursary scheme. The scheme is aimed at building skills and capacity in the arts, culture and heritage sector; as well as developing qualified language practitioners in fields such as translation, interpreting, lexicography, language planning and human language technologies. The Department’s bursary scheme has benefitted many students from 15 Universities across the country since 2004. The initiative is in line with the Department’s mandate to develop, promote and protect all official languages in order to enhance nation building and to promote social cohesion.
Media is invited to attend as follows:
Date: 21 February 2015
Time: 10h00
Venue: University of Limpopo, Turf loop Campus, Mankweng
RSVP:
Tel: 012 441 3737 or 060 971 7482
E-mail: Madimetjam@dac.gov.za
Enquiries:
Peter Mbelengwa
Cell: 082 611 8197
E-mail: petermb@dac.gov.za
