Ombudsman: Improve change of regulations on mother tongue

BELGRADE - Serbian Ombudsman Sasa Jankovic underscored that local regulations guarantee high standards of use and preservation of the mother tongue but their implementation needs to be enhanced, which is why he delivered recommendations to competent bodies concerning the removal of most frequent weaknesses in the use of official language.

To mark the International Mother Tongue Day, Jankovic said that the right to use and preservation of mother tongue has a deep and far-reaching impact on an individual, group and society as a whole, states the release issued by the Serbian ombudsman.

He stated that a large number of languages in official use in Serbia testify of the rich culture and tradition in the country.

“Linguistic diversity is a genuine wealth but we must not neglect the integrative role of the Serbian language for all citizens of the Republic of Serbia. The fact that there are young people in Serbia who complete their education without truly mastering the Serbian language is a reason for concern and it later becomes an obstacle to their integration into a wider community and seeking employment in government bodies,” Jankovic believes.

He said that in local communities where the mother tongue of an ethnic minority is the dominant language, members of the Serb nation need to master the language of their communities during their education.

The UNESCO General Assembly established the Mother Tongue Day in 1999 as a memory of students murdered in Dhaka (eastern Pakistan, today's Bangladesh) on February 21, 1952 as they protested because their mother tongue had not been declared the official language.

Photo, Video Tanjug