Bangla Academy celebrates 70th founding anniversary

Bangla Academy, a national institution dedicated to the research, preservation and development of Bengali language and literature, is celebrating its 70th anniversary today. Since its establishment on December 3, 1955, the institution has become one of the arenas of national culture, history and modern literary practice, embodying the spirit of the language movement.

A day-long programme has been organized on the academy premises today, to mark the founding anniversary. The day's activities began at 9:30 am by hoisting the national flag and the Bangla Academy flag. Then at 10 am, the academy's delegation paid tribute to the martyrs of the language movement at the Central Shaheed Minar and at the tomb of educationist Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah.

The founding anniversary lecture will be held at the Abdul Karim Sahitya Bisharad Auditorium at 3:30pm. Bangla Academy Director General Professor Mohammad Azam will deliver the welcome speech at the programme. Professor Abul Kashem Fazlul Haq will preside, and researcher and writer Faizul Latif Chowdhury will deliver the keynote address.

Bangla Academy was established immediately after the State Language Movement out of the need for a dedicated cultural institution to protect the dignity of the Bengali language. This institution, which started at Burdwan House, the official residence of the then Prime Minister of East Pakistan, gradually developed into one of the foundations for protecting the cultural identity of the nation.

Over the past seven decades, Bangla Academy has been making important contributions to the mental and cultural development of the country through various activities including language and literary research, publications, preparation of dictionaries, collection of folk culture, reading practice, and organizing national literary festivals. The institution's role in passing on the literary creation and cultural legacy of Bengalis to future generations has become even stronger today.