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Petition for greater recognition of the Sylheti Language


Mr Ariful Haque Choudhury, Sylhet City Corporation

Mayor Sadiq Khan, The Mayor of London

Mayor Lutfur Rahman, Executive Mayor of Tower Hamlets

Hon'ble Member of Parliament Raushan Ershad, Hon'ble Member of Parliament

Hon'ble Member of Parliament Mouazzam Hossain Ratan, Bangladesh Parliament

Hon'ble Member of Parliament Jaya Sen Gupta, Bangladesh Parliament

Hon'ble Member of Parliament M A Mannan, Bangladesh Parliament

Hon'ble Member of Parliament Pir Fazlur Rahman, Bangladesh Parliament

Hon'ble Member of Parliament Mohibur Rahman Manik, Bangladesh Parliament

Hon'ble Member of Parliament A. K Abdul Momen, Bangladesh Parliament

Hon'ble Member of Parliament Mukabbir Khan, Bangladesh Parliament

Hon'ble Member of Parliament Habibur Rahman, Bangladesh Parliament

Hon'ble Member of Parliament Imran Ahmad, Bangladesh Parliament

Hon'ble Member of Parliament. Hafiz Ahmed Majumder, Bangladesh Parliament

Hon'ble Member of Parliament Nurul Islam Nahid, Bangladesh Parliament

Hon'ble Member of Parliament Md. Shahab Uddin, Bangladesh Parliament

Hon'ble Member of Parliament Sultan Muhammed Mansur Ahmed, Bangladesh Parliament

Hon'ble Member of Parliament Nesar Ahmed, Bangladesh Parliament

Hon'ble Member of Parliament Md. Abdus Shahid, Bangladesh Parliament

Hon'ble Member of Parliament Md. Abdul Majid Khan, Bangladesh Parliament

Hon'ble Member of Parliament Md. Abu Zahir, Bangladesh Parliament

Hon'ble Member of Parliament Md. Mahbub Ali, Bangladesh Parliament

Sir / Madam Personnel In Charge, UNESCO

Mr Md Abdul Quayyum, UNDP Head of Communications and Chair of United Nations

Sir / Madam Personnel In Charge, European Parliament

Mr Md Islam, Linguists Collective

Mayor Tom Wootton, Bedford Borough Council

Prime Minister, The Rt Hon. Sir Keir Starmer, Prime Minister of the UK

MP Apsana Begum, Member of UK Parliament

MP Rushanara Ali, Member of UK Parliament

Secretariat Ms Josiane Poivre, UNESCO - Living Heritage Entity

Mrs Tulip Siddiq MP, Member of Parliament, UK

Ms. Saida Muna Tasneem, H. E. Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK

President Liz Black, The Association for Language Learning (ALL)

Dr Deborah Anderson, President of Unicode Technical Committee

MP Mahmud Us Samad Chowdhury, Hon'able Member of Parliament, Sylhet 3, Bangladesh

Mr Bidhayak Roy Chowdhury, Chief Executive Officer (Additional Secretary), Sylhet City Corporation

Ms Faria Sultana, Executive Magistrate, Sylhet City Corporation

Mr Md Kamal Hussain, Chairman, Moulvibazar Sadar, Bangladesh

Ms Shahina Rahman, Vice Chair, Moulvibazar Sadar, Bangladesh

Professor Jagadish Mukhi, HON'BLE GOVERNOR OF ASSAM, Assam State, India

Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, HON'BLE CHIEF MINISTER OF ASSAM, INDIA

The Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP, Conservative, MP UK Parliament, Former Prime Minister.

Mr Satya Nadella and the Team, Microsoft Developer Team

Team Google Fonts, Google Fonts

Mayor Anwaruzzaman Chowdhury, Sylhet City Corporation

Mr Tawfik Jelassi, Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, UNESCO

Ms Noro Andriamiseza, IMLD, UNESCO

Barrister Syed Sayedul Haque (Sumon) MP, Hon'ble Member of Parliament, Bangladesh

Dr Professor Muhammad Yunus, Bangladesh Government

Barrister Ataur Rahman, Greater Sylhet Development & Welfare Council in the UK


With all due respect, we Sylheti Language, an independent group campaigning for greater recognition and promotion of Sylheti, most respectfully beg you to draw your kind attention to the following facts for your favourable consideration and action. 

A study from UNESCO shows that “linguistic diversity is increasingly threatened as more and more languages disappear as globally 40 percent of the population does not have access to an education in a language they speak or understand.” 

Sylheti is spoken by an estimated number of 11 million people around the world, primarily in the Sylhet division of Bangladesh, Karimganj, Halakandi, and Cachar of India, London, Birmingham, and Manchester in the UK, and other parts of the world.  

Although Bangladesh is the motherland of Sylheti, it isn’t recognised as an official language, as Bengali is the official language of Bangladesh as a country. 

Language is an integral aspect of our society. To some, it is an identity, to others, it is a location. Nonetheless, it is as important to our daily living, as other daily essentials. 

In Bangladesh, Sylheti is regarded as a mere dialect of Bengali and this is mostly due to a lack of proper documentation, politics, and limited access to resources and materials of the Sylheti language. 

Sylheti is a representation of a people and as you know, the Sylheti language has been for 100s of years but due to discrimination, racism and today’s sociopolitical world, it is regarded as a sublanguage to the domination of other languages in Sylhet and Assam, where Sylheti is historically spoken. 

The Sylheti language is dying as it is no longer taught in Bangladesh and India, and despite having many million speakers there is no official use of the language except for research. 

Sylheti Language is an independent campaigning organisation, and its purpose is to campaign for greater recognition of Sylheti as a language, introduction of formal teaching of Sylheti in local schools and raise awareness that it’s okay to speak in your mother tongue Sylheti and write in Sylheti to express your feelings or daily business.  

Respected Sirs and Madams, as you know, The ability to express oneself in one’s native tongue and the language of one’s family can be extremely important for maintaining one’s sense of cultural identity, both individually and collectively, and for engaging in public life.  But unfortunately, in countries like Bangladesh, due to less exposure to Sylheti, the main Sylheti speakers have made their Sylheti sound more like Bangali due to social and racial pressure to sound more educated or smarter as Bengali is the official language.  

This is why we appeal for greater official recognition of the Sylheti language in Bangladesh, India, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and other parts of the world. 

As you know, Language diversity plays a huge role in the identity of people and their well-being and mental health. and this is why Sylheti needs to be taught in schools as a part of the curriculum. It is crucial to keep the identity of Sylheti and preserve and promote Sylhet’s literary heritage.  

According to the United Nations, the education of a mother tongue must begin from a child’s early life, which is why we are campaigning and appealing for the integration of Sylheti into the curriculum of primary schools, and for digital technology to be made available for remote learning and writing of Sylheti with easy access to online resources matching the 21st century as it will be a big step in reviving our dying language. 

Fortunately, Sylheti is a bit more recognised in the U.K, and majorly spoken in East London, but it would be more appreciated if Sylheti is promoted more in the U.K. 

The entire educational curriculum, municipal / city corporation/council or local government services, and the cultural section all need to incorporate the histories, cultures, and languages of Sylheti for more awareness. 

Lessons on the history and social narratives of Sylheti should be based on facts and not personal experiences or opinions. We all have a responsibility to the coming generations should be aware of the racism and discrimination that the Sylheti community has faced and is facing in different parts of the world today and particularly in Bangladesh and India. 

Different states all around the world have restricted the use of minority languages and the pandemic revealed that access to learning materials and resources for minority languages can be restricted. So we appeal that the original Sylheti script, known as Sylheti-Nagari, be introduced and used as a learning resource in schools. 

In conclusion, we ask that you consider our reasons above and take favourable steps in the preservation, promotion, and greater recognition of the Sylheti Language. We will be extremely grateful to you and thus obliged for that act of your kind regard and favorable action.  So, we beseech you, that you join our campaign by signing this petition as it will be a major step in our voices being heard and changes being made.  

Sylheti is also known as ꠍꠤꠟꠐꠤ Syloti (and spelled as Sylhetti, Sylhety, Sileti, Siloti, Sylhetti, Silhoti, Syloty). With this petition, we’re urging the Unicode to recognise Sylheti Numerals (Syloti Numerals) and encode it in Unicode as soon as possible and thanking for encoding Sylheti Alphabets. We kindly request Microsoft and Google to recognize Sylheti Language as an independent language, distinct from Eastern-Nagri (Bengali), and to incorporate our Syloti-Nagri script. We appreciate Google for introducing Noto Sans Syloti Nagri and respectfully ask for its inclusion as a widely used font, encompassing conjunct consonants and numerals.

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Note from Campaign Organisers to the readers / signatories: sylhetilanguage.net is a dedicated website for the Sylheti language campaign and we are campaigning for greater official recognition of the Sylheti Language and collecting signatures. You can join our campaign by signing our petition that we aim to serve to Bangladesh Government, Indian Government, British Government, United States of America, United Nations, European Union, Sylhet City Mayor, London City Mayor, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, and many others. You can use the form here (petition.sylhetilanguage.net) to sign the petition and share it with your family and friends. You will also find useful information and links as well as learning materials on this website sylhetilanguage.net, thank you in advance for signing this petition. 

We appreciate our website sponsors and all others for their much needed contribution to our campaign, YOU can also join them by donating to our campaign from here, Thank You in advance for your support and signing our petition. To sign this petition and join our campaign, please fill in the form below and press Submit. Bengali / বাংলা

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