The most pressing issue in Bangladesh is the loss of culture due to language loss. Bangladesh is a very culturally vibrant country with many diverse peoples. The people of Bangladesh enjoy expressing and passing on their cultures through celebrations, traditions, and of course, language. Unfortunately, Bangladesh has been facing a serious crisis involving language loss and thus culture.
The most widely spoken language in Bangladesh is Bangla. Millions of people across the country speak it, as either their first or second language. While this is the most widely spoken language, there are many other languages, some with much less recognition. Among these are primarily indigenous tongues. In a celebration of languages, known as “Mother Language Day”, this issue was brought to light. Many speakers of these indigenous languages feel as though their languages have been dying out and without the continuance of their language, they fear their culture will also die out.
In response to this, there has been a rising movement for action to combat the loss of language. Petitions to develop a curriculum incorporating more of these languages have begun. The limitation, however, is that the less common languages, those with 50 or fewer speakers, have been struggling to provide the resources to develop a curriculum for the teaching of their languages. Another issue has been pushback from the government which hasn’t placed categorized this issue as a priority.
