Students at an elementary school in southern Thailand take bilingual literacy classes. The program is for the minority Patani-Malay people, whose indigenous language is different from the government’s official Thai language. The Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia at Mahidol University in Thailand, developer of the program, has been awarded the 2016 UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize.
Some 600 years ago, King Sejong the Great (세종대왕, 世宗大王) (1397-1450), the fourth Joseon monarch, announced the new writing system of Hangeul. The king’s goal was to ensure that more of his people, not only the high-class but the public as well, would be able to read and write with this new writing system that was both easier and logical.
In honor of this Joseon ruler who wanted more of his people to be literate, each year since 1990 Korea and UNESCO have awarded the UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize to individuals or organizations around the world that have contributed to the development of their mother tongue and to world literacy.
This year’s winners are the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia at Mahidol University in Thailand, and the Center for Knowledge Assistance and Community Development in Vietnam. A joint award ceremony was held at UNESCO headquarters in Paris on Sept. 8, on International Literacy Day.
The research institute won for its bilingual literacy program that targets the Patani-Malay people in southern Thailand. The institute’s bilingual literacy program for the elementary school contributes to lessening the linguistic and cultural gap between Patani-Malay speakers and speakers of the government’s official Thai language.
The other winner, the Vietnamese center, won for its book dissemination program across rural Vietnam. The center provides books to rural towns across the nation that don’t have access otherwise to reading material, creating a more reading-friendly environment in rural towns, increasing literacy and offering life-long learning opportunities as well.
The Center for Knowledge Assistance and Community Development has been listed as another winner of the 2016 UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize thanks to its book dissemination program across rural Vietnam, helping to create a reading-friendly environment in rural towns across the nation.
The Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will invite staff from the two award-winning organizations to Korea on Oct. 9 to mark the 570th anniversary of the proclamation of Hangeul. The invited guests will be able to look around King Sejong’s royal tomb, the Yeongneung tomb complex, in Yeoju, Gyeonggi-do Province, and the National Hangeul Museum.
By Chang Iou-chung
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
icchang@korea.kr
