International Mother Language Day is celebrated every year on 21st February. The main purpose of celebrating this day is to promote the awareness of language and cultural diversity all across the world. It was first announced by UNESCO on November 17, 1999. Since then it is being celebrated every year.

The date represents the day 21st February 1952 when four young students (Salam, Barkat, Rafiq Jabbar and more) were killed in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, because of Bengali and Urdu language controversy. Because of this unfortunate incident, International Mother Language Day is celebrated in all over the world, while it is a public holiday in Bangladesh.