UNESCO to Host a Namibia Indigenous Language Seminar!

On Monday 23 January, the Windhoek National Office of UNESCO met with various stakeholders from the Ministry of Education Arts and Culture, NIED, publishers and Namibia Editors Forum for a Steering Committee meeting to prepare for the UNESCO International Mother Language Day Celebration that will be held on 21 February 2017.

Within the framework of this celebration, UNESCO office will host a Namibia Indigenous Language Seminar that will take place on 21 February 2017 at the Gateway Conference Centre in Windhoek.

This is the first time that Namibia will be officially celebrating the Mother Language Day with the rest of the world. Seeing that there are about 13 main languages spoken in Namibia, this celebration is bound to attract wide interest from all the indigenous groups in the country.

With the number of learners who speak their mother tongue at home on decline these days, the Seminar, held as part of the celebration of the Mother Language Day, is highly anticipated by publishers and teachers alike. 

The main goals of the Seminar are:

Askideas.com

• to take stock of the current status of Namibia's Indigenous Languages 
• to involve the various stakeholders in discussion and production of an effective framework for the successful development of Namibia's Indigenous Languages
• to support existing structures and initiatives in their efforts to popularise the use of Namibia's Indigenous Languages.

Namibia Publishing House welcomes the invitation to the Seminar and supports UNESCO's efforts in initiating a dialogue on the state of the Indigenous Languages in Namibia. We strongly encourage all the stakeholders to attend!