Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

The 10th nationwide contest titled "Let's love and encourage others to love our mother language", announced by Chag Oyretim (Modern Education), a private Turkish company in the Azerbaijani capital Baku, with the support of Azerbaijan's Ministry of Education, is drawing to a close.

The three-stage contest, held under the motto "Our language is our existence", is dedicated to the International Mother Language Day, celebrated on February 21. It was held in the categories of grammar, essays, poetry, music and internet site creation.

The first stage of the competition was joined by 38,428 students from 1,115 schools while the second stage was participated in by 135 students. During the third stage, six students participate in the category of music, 5 students in the category of poetry, 10 in the category of grammar and 10 are trying out their skills in creating websites.

The last stage takes place at the Azerbaijan State National Drama Theatre on Monday evening and the results will be evaluated by well-known linguists, literature, art and culture representatives and teachers of the country.

International Mother Language Day was established by the 30th general conference of UNESCO held in November 1999 and has been celebrated since 2000 in an effort to protect a variety of languages and cultures.

The National Leader of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev issued in August 2001 a decree on the establishment of Azerbaijani alphabet and language day and since then August 1 is celebrated in Azerbaijan as the day of Azerbaijani alphabet and language.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has approved a state program for linguistics development which envisages the use of Azerbaijani language in the conditions of globalization. Republication of the Azerbaijani literary heritage in Latin alphabet was among relevant measures.

Chag Oyretim has held the contest "Let's love and encourage others to love our mother language" since 2003. In the initial years, only students from the colleges of Chag Oyretim Corporation and Caucasus Gymnasium participated at the contest, but later it became a nationwide contest.