Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that some people who suddenly became owners of money think that speaking English is modernity. I don't believe that to be smart you only need to learn a language and speak that language. By learning one's own language one can learn another's language.

She said these words at the opening ceremony of the four-day program to celebrate Great Martyrs' Day and International Mother Language Day 2024 at the International Mother Language Institute on Wednesday (21 February) afternoon.

The Prime Minister said that to be smart, you don't have to speak English. But many languages need to be learned for workplace needs. The medium of education should be mother tongue, along with which children need to be taught two or three other languages. Bengla should be taken to international level all over the world. In this era of globalization, knowing more than one language will increase your confidence.

In the beginning of his speech, the Prime Minister paid tribute to those who sacrificed their lives to protect the mother tongue Bengali. She said that the Bengali nation made great sacrifices to give dignity to their mother tongue. Bengali nation has given the status of language with blood.

She also said that a nation can have a better life by protecting its own language. And the right to speak our mother tongue was also tried to be taken away. Besides, a foreign language is tried to be imposed on us.

Sheikh Hasina said, Bangladesh is unfortunate that history is distorted here. History was distorted after 1975. There came a time when we were forgotten as a victorious nation.

Under the chairmanship of Education Minister Mahibul Hasan Chowdhury Naufel, Prime Minister's Education and Cultural Affairs Adviser Dr. Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury, State Minister of Primary and Mass Education Rumana Ali, Secretary of Secondary and Higher Education Department Soleman Khan, Director General of International Mother Language Institute Professor Dr. Hakim Arif was also present in the event.