Maltese language council being set up
A bill providing for the setting up of the Council for the Maltese Language to promote Maltese has been published. Education Minister Louis Galea said the bill consolidated the language as an essential part of the national heritage as well as the most...
A bill providing for the setting up of the Council for the Maltese Language to promote Maltese has been published.
Education Minister Louis Galea said the bill consolidated the language as an essential part of the national heritage as well as the most democratic tool with which the people could express themselves.
He said there was no better way of meeting multi-cultural and pluralistic pressures than by emphasising the cultural and Euro-Mediterranean authenticity of Malta.
While recognising Maltese as a main element of the national identity, the bill was providing for the promotion of a linguistic policy and strategy which was suitable for today.
It was the result of extensive research and consultation and everything had been done to obtain the widest consensus possible.
Through it, the state, together with expert and linguistic entities such as the Akkademja tal-Malti and the university, was giving the Maltese language the priority it deserved in schools and within the literary and cultural manifestations connected to the native language.
The minister said that the council was being set up to draw up a national plan for the language to be strengthened in education, broadcasting, the media, in courts and in political, administrative, economic, social and cultural life.
The council will be made up of 11 people under the chairmanship of the President and appointed by the Prime Minister. Members would be well qualified in Maltese.
The council would include representatives from several sectors including the university, the Akkademja tal-Malti, the Education Division, the Maltese Council for Culture and the Arts, the Attorney General, the Ghaqda tal-Malti and The Malta Press Club. The council would be assisted by linguistic experts who would work in a technical commission and on a number of specialised committees.
A seminar on the bill is being held on Saturday at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, in Valletta.
A copy of the bill may be downloaded from internet.
www.education.gov.mt/ministry/doc/laws.htm