Savitribai Phule birth anniversary: All you need to know about India's first female teacher

The nation remembers Savitribai Phule, one of India’s foremost social reformers, on her 190th birth anniversary today, 3 January 2022. Savitribai Phule is known for her contribution to the field of women’s education.

Phule raised her voice for women’s rights, way before it became a norm in India. She faced a social boycott and had to encounter countless hardships for advocating women’s education. In 1848, Savitribai Phule and her husband Jyotirao Phule started the first-ever school for women in Pune.

History

Savitribai Phule was born on 3 January, 1831 in Satara district of Maharashtra. In a country where women rights were non-existent, she fought for their education and raised her voice against casteism and patriarchy.

Savitribai Phule was nine years old when she was married to 13-year-old Jyotirao Phule. The latter, who was well-educated, trained Savitribai Phule to become a teacher. She is considered the country’s first woman teacher and also the first woman to become a headmistress.

Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule opened 18 schools for girls in Pune. They introduced several innovative methods like stipend to motivate students to attend school. Later, the couple became social activists and fought for the rights of women.

Some facts about Savitribai Phule

• Savitribai Phule was born in a farmer family in the backward Mali community

• She was illiterate when she got married to Jyotirao Phule

• The couple was asked to leave their ancestral house as her father-in-law was upset with their revolutionary activities

• Savitribai Phule started ‘Balhatya Pratibandhak Griha’, a care centre for pregnant rape victims

• In 1874, Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule adopted a son born to a widowed Brahmin woman

• Savitribai Phule was also a good poet; she used her poetry to spread awareness about women’s education and eradication of untouchability

• Savitribai Phule’s famous poems include Kavya Phule published in 1854 and Bavan Kashi Subodh Ratnakar published in 1892

• She was also considered India’s first female poetess

In her honor, Pune University was renamed Savitribai Phule University in 2014.
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