Savitribai Phule: The Woman Who Changed Indian Education

Savitribai Phule is a respected social reformer, educator, and poet of Maharashtra. She is well-known as India's first feminist. She always remained dedicated to empowering women through education and overcoming social barriers that separated women from their rights and equality.

Early Life and Marriage

Born on 3 January 1831, in Naigaon village, Satara district, Maharashtra, Savitribai belonged to a farmer's family. At nine years of age, she was married to Jyotirao Phule, who was 12. Jyotirao was a progressive thinker and social reformer. He initiated teaching Savitribai how to read and write, which helped her in her future life as an educator and activist.

First Female Teacher in India

Savitribai became India's first female teacher after completing her teacher training in Ahmednagar and Pune. She was very passionate about education and started teaching girls in Maharwada, Pune, along with Sagunabai, another reformer, and Fatima Begum Sheikh, one of India's first Muslim women educators. Savitribai also taught children from the Mahar and Mang castes, who were marginalized. She established India's first girls' school.

She and her husband founded the first girls' school in India in Pune in 1848. Later, she started 17 schools, and three schools were running successfully by educating 150 girls in 1851. British Government declared her as the best teacher of the state in 1852 due to her service. She and her husband advocated for social reforms and a new form of marriage called Satyashodhak marriage.

Beyond education, Savitribai made contributions. In 1873, she implemented Satyashodhak Marriage, which was a type of marriage in which couples promised to support education and equality. She fought against social evils such as child marriage and Sati while supporting widow remarriage.

Shelter and Advocacy

She opened an infanticide shelter and also adopted children for the widows. All this effort of Savitribai towards creating a level playing field for education and challenging regressive social practices that dominate the Indian historical page.