Literacy is more than the ability to read and write. It helps people understand information, communicate with others, make informed decisions, and participate fully in their communities. In times of crisis, being able to understand and act on information can become even more important.

The experience of Hat Yai, Thailand, shows how multilingual literacy can help people from different linguistic backgrounds access essential information, communicate with one another, and respond to situations that may affect their safety and livelihoods.

Getting to know Hat Yai

Located in southern Thailand, about 50 km from Padang Besar on the Thai-Malaysian border, Hat Yai has grown into a vibrant and multicultural city. Its development was closely linked to the railway, which brought early Chinese migrants to the area to work on railway construction and later establish businesses.

Today, Thai, Chinese and Malay influences can be seen in the city’s culture and everyday life. As a southern Thailand’s hub for transportation and commerce, as well as a destination for shopping, education and public health services, Hat Yai attracts people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds.

Yet Hat Yai’s location on a low-lying floodplain, together with rapid urbanisation and climate change, makes the city vulnerable to flooding every year. In 2025, the city experienced one of its most severe floods in decades following record-breaking rainfall, disrupting homes, businesses, transportation and essential services.

Literacy that Works in Real Life

Imagine receiving an emergency announcement but not fully understanding the language. Or being a local resident trying to help a visitor stranded during a disaster. In moments like these, knowing what is happening and what to do can make a real difference.

This is the idea behind Hat Yai’s Language for Life programme. Launched in 2016 by Hat Yai City Municipality in partnership with Prince of Songkla University, the programme promotes multilingual learning in English, Malay and Chinese, while connecting language skills to real-life needs such as disaster communication, environmental awareness and economic activities. Through face-to-face, digital and hybrid learning, the programme equips learners with practical communication skills for everyday life in a multicultural and disaster-prone city. In this context, multilingual literacy can turn language from a barrier into a bridge—connecting people to information, opportunities and to one another.

The Language for Life: Multilingual Literacy for Disaster Communication and Community Resilience in Hat Yai Learning City programme was awarded the UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy 2026, alongside projects from Lebanon and Mexico.

Established in 2005 with the support of the Government of the People’s Republic of China, the Prize recognises programmes that advance literacy in their respective contexts, including through functional literacy and the use of digital tools to support adults in rural areas and out-of-school youth. Each prizewinner receives a medal, a diploma and US$30,000.

SEAMEO and the Role of Multilingual Education

The Hat Yai’s story reminds us that multilingual education is not simply about learning additional languages. It can also help people access information, communicate across differences, and apply what they learn to real-world challenges.

This is particularly relevant in Southeast Asia, home to more than 1,000 languages, making linguistic diversity both a cultural strength and an educational challenge. Across Southeast Asia, the language spoken at home often differs from the language used in school. For many learners, this creates a quiet but significant barrier to understanding lessons and participating fully in the classroom.

Recognising this challenge, SEAMEO QITEP in Language, together with the SEAMEO Secretariat and with technical support from UNESCO, launched the Southeast Asian Roadmap on Multilingual Education (SEA-MLE Roadmap) in 2026. The Roadmap provides a flexible framework for countries to strengthen multilingual education according to their own linguistic and educational contexts, with a shared regional commitment: language should never be the reason a child is left behind.

Conclusion

The Hat Yai experience shows that language learning does not have to stay inside a classroom or be limited to academic purposes. It can be connected to the places where people live, work and interact—and to the challenges they face together.

That is perhaps what makes Language for Life meaningful. It reminds us that literacy is not simply about knowing words. Sometimes, it is about having the words you need when they matter most.