On this day, people visit Shaheed Minar to pay homage to the movement's martyrs and arrange seminars discussing and promoting Bengali as the state language of Bangladesh.

[3] In 1947, a key resolution at a national education summit in Karachi advocated Urdu as the sole state language and its exclusive use in the media and in schools.

Students from Dhaka rallied under the leadership of Abul Kashem, the secretary of Tamaddun Majlish, a Bengali Islamic cultural organisation.

The central education minister Fazlur Rahman made extensive preparations to make Urdu the only state language of the Dominion of Pakistan.

[8]) At nine o'clock on the morning of 21 February 1952, students began gathering on the premises of the University of Dhaka in defiance of Section 144 of the penal code.

However, the military government formed by Ayub Khan made attempts to re-establish Urdu as the sole national language.

Mainly due to regional economic imbalances sectional divisions grew, and support for the Bengali ethnic nationalist Awami League, which invoked the 6-point movement for greater provincial autonomy.

[13] The UNESCO General Conference took the decision that took effect on 17 November 1999,[14] when it unanimously adopted a draft resolution submitted by Bangladesh and co-sponsored and supported by 28 other countries.