UNESCO. General Conference; 30th; Records ... - unesdoc - Unesco

My delegation considers that it is the responsibility of this Organization to adopt appropriate policies
and strategies to reach the unreached, to bridge the gap between the privileged and the disadvantaged.
Mr President, I would now like to take this opportunity to intimate Bangladesh’s view on the priority
concerns and interests of UNESCO.
Education is the foundation for all forms of societal development. With obvious justification, education
remains the first priority area of UNESCO. Bangladesh strongly endorses the UNESCO decision to give absolute
priority to “Basic education for all” in its programmes for 2000-2001. Education being the key tool for
promoting development, the least developed countries with their severely limited resources have no way out but
to opt for transforming their vast populations into human capital through proper education and training.
UNESCO’s response to the diverse needs of the Member States for education services through multifaceted
programmes and projects is, therefore, highly appreciated.
Bangladesh fully concurs with the UNESCO concern for ensuring that higher education makes a greater
contribution to the development of the education system as a whole as enunciated in Subprogramme I.2.3.
Mr President, in elaborating Major Programme III entitled “Cultural development: the heritage and
creativity”, it has been concluded that UNESCO will have to reshape its actions in this arena. Such a conclusion
is consistent with the deliberations of the “Intergovernmental Conference on Cultural Policies for Development”
held in 1998 in Stockholm; the first World Culture Report also dating from 1998; and the implementation of the
Action Plan on Cultural Policies for Development approved in Stockholm. Bangladesh supports the UNESCO
decision to lay stress on indigenous capacity-building, assisting Member States to design frameworks for their
cultural policies and encouraging training in cultural administration and management which will follow from the
proposed reshaping. Bangladesh comprises territory with an eventful if chequered history and a rich cultural
heritage. This calls for strong policy support for the preservation, protection and enhancement of our cultural and
natural heritage. The new orientation of UNESCO actions, initiated by the current of events in Stockholm, is
expected to facilitate the fulfilment of this requirement.
In this spirit, I draw the kind attention of this Conference to a special resolution submitted by my
delegation for your approval. This is about declaring 21 February as International Mother Language Day to
honour about 4,000 mother languages in the world. We believe that language is the most powerful instrument for
preserving and developing the tangible and intangible heritage of every society. The significance of the day,
i.e. 21 February, is that on that day, in 1952, the entire 45 million people of Bangladesh rose in unison to protest
against the decision of the then rulers of Pakistan that although Bangla was the language of the majority of people
of the country, it would not be given official recognition and would be downgraded against another language
used by a small minority. On that very day four persons were killed by the security forces shooting at a peaceful
unarmed student demonstration.
After that eventful day in 1952, many more lives were to be lost until 1971 when Bangladesh got its
freedom after a bloody war leaving nearly 3 million dead. Bangla as a language has evolved over a thousand
years and one of its great poets, Rabindra Nath Tagore, received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1913 writing in
this very language. Today nearly 200 million people in the world speak this language.
Mr President, Bangladesh applauds with great enthusiasm the proposal for the intersectoral project
entitled “Reading for all” under Major Programme III, aiming at encouraging the production and dissemination
of low-cost reading materials and school textbooks and at promoting the reading habit among children and young
people of deprived groups.
Introduction of national plans for the development of crafts and the establishment of craft microenterprises
in 10 or so of the least developed countries is the result expected from the main line of action 2
entitled “Promotion of craftwork and design” under Programme III.2 of Major Programme III. This line of action
will greatly benefit Bangladesh, a country that has been renowned for her arts and crafts from as early as the first
century of this era.
Mr President, Bangladesh endorses the views, proposals, programmes and subprogrammes under Major
Programme IV entitled “Towards a communication and information society for all”. We extend our unqualified
support to the programme for promoting free flow of ideas and universal access to information. The
implementation of the programme for strengthening communication and information capacities in Member States
through appropriate and adequate training will satisfy a felt need of the Member States. The proposal to
undertake effective measures to reduce the gap between “info-rich” and “info-poor” countries is supported
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