Sri Lanka has launched the first certificate course in Hindi in the country to promote Hindi education in the country. The initiative was launched in Colombo,Sri Lanka on 10 January 2025 on the occasion of the World Hindi Day or Vishwa Hindi Diwas. The World Hindi Day has been observed every year on 10th January since 2006.
The certificate course was launched at the Bharat-Sri Lanka Hindi Sammelan held in Colombo on 10th January 2025 on the occasion of the World Hindi Day. The launch of the Hindi course in Sri Lanka was a part of the effort of the Ministry of External Affairs to promote Hindi language around the world.
The certificate course in Hindi is being launched by the Open University of Sri Lanka in collaboration with the Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre (SVCC), the cultural arm of the High Commission of India in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The course was launched by India’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka,Santosh Jha and Dr.Madhura Seneviratne, Deputy Minister of Education and Higher Education of Sri Lanka.
World Hindi Day or Vishwa Hindi Diwas has been observed on 10 January every year since 2006.
The date was chosen to mark the anniversary of the first time Hindi was spoken in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 1949.
The Indira Gandhi government in 1975 organised the first World Hindi Conference on 10th January at Nagpur, Maharashtra to promote Hindi language in the world.
The World Hindi Conference has been held in various parts of the world and the 12th World Hindi Conference was held in Fiji in February 2023.
During Dr Manmohan Singh government, the first World Hindi Day was observed in 2006.
The World Hindi Day or the Vishwa Hindi Diwas is different from Hindi Diwas.
Hindi Diwas is observed on 14th September every year to mark the adoption of Hindi language in devanagari script by the Constituent Assembly of India as the Official language of the country.
First Hindi Diwas was observed by the government of India on 14th September 1953.
Hindi is the largest spoken language in India and third most spoken language in the world after English and Mandarin Chinese.