Celebrating Harmony Day: Embracing Cultural Diversity in Australia

Running head: SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT
SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT
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1SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT
Description of issue- Harmony Day is celebrated on 21st March and the day celebrates
the cultural diversity of Australia. The harmony week is all about the inclusiveness and it imparts
a sense of belonging into each and every one. It is celebrated in schools so as to make Australia a
great place to live and it signifies the cultural respect for everyone that calls Australia as home.
The main aim is to engage the school children, teachers and parents so that they can participate
in their community and along with it give respect to the religious diversity, cultural diversity and
at the same time foster a sense of belonging into everyone (Moore, 2014).
It might be an issue because there are certain important facts and figures that provides
details of diversity in Australia. Nearly half of the Australians are born outside of Australia or at
least one of their parents was born outside Australia. There are over 300 ancestries and since the
year 1945, more than 7.5 million people have migrated to Australia. About 85 percent of the
Australians have agreed that celebrating multiculturalism have proved to be good for Australia
(Walton et al., 2018). The most common language spoken in Australia is English and the other
major languages spoken in Australia are Punjabi, Spanish, Hindi, Filipino/Tagalog, Greek,
Italian, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Arabic and Mandarin. More than 70 different indigenous
languages are spoken in Australia. Australia is a vibrant and a multicultural country, and the
cultural diversity of Australia is one of the greatest strengths and it is present in the heart of the
Australians and this makes Australia a great place to live. Therefore, integrated and multicultural
Australia forms an integral part of the national identity. The people that migrate to Australia
bring with themselves their own traditions and own cultures and as well as they take in new
cultures. Therefore, it can be said these new traditions have enriched Australia (Burridge,
Buchanan & Chodkiewicz, 2014).

2SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT
March 21st is celebrated as the Australia’s Harmony Day and it celebrates the cultural
diversity of Australia. Moreover, harmony day is a government program of Australia is based on
the message that everyone belongs and it reinforces the fact that vitality of inclusiveness of
Australia. Since the year 1999, thousands of the harmony day events have already been
celebrated in the local government agencies, state government agencies, federal and business,
churches, community groups, schools and centres (Aldridge, Ala’i & Fraser, 2016).
Harmony week provides an opportunity for all the Western Australians so that they can
celebrate a vibrant multicultural state. The harmony week runs from 15t to 21st every March and
every year it encourages each and every person to appreciate, explore and experiences the wealth
of ethnic, linguistic, religious and cultural diversity. The harmony week provides an opportunity
and provides an opportunity for the people that are from a linguistic and culturally diverse
community. There are economic advantages and the diverse communities have a strong link with
the rest of the world so that the competiveness can be increased (Sheehan & Taylor, 2016).
Potential allies- The teaching from religious books can increase the knowledge of the
students with regards to brotherhood and respecting others even if they belong from a different
community or religion. It is important to mention that the school scripture teachers will be
supporting the students to know what is harmony week celebration and how will they be
indulging actively into the celebration (Cook & Hudson, 2013). The celebration of the harmony
week is to promote the multiculturalism within the school children and also celebrate the
diversity of the different type of the people and other students belonging from different
communities, religion. It is often seen that the scripture teachers have the knowledge and skills
required for a subject. Thus, a guest speaker will provide an extra benefit of increasing and