NEW DELHI: Today is the 121st death anniversary of Savitribai Phule. Savitribai Phule is often considered the first female school teacher in India. She was married when still a child of nine to Jyotirao Phule. Both Jyotirao Phule and Savitribai Phule founded the first girl's school in Pune which was run by native Indians. She also worked alongside her husband to abolish discrimination based on caste and gender in the Indian society.
Jyotirao Phule was an advocate of female education and helped his wife attain good education against all odds. She not only became the first female teacher in the country but went on to set up 17 more schools. She was actively involved with the lives of the students and regularly conducted meetings with parents to emphasize the importance of education for girls.
Her efforts to educate girls was not received positively by many in the society and she would often get mud and cow dung flung at her on her way to school. She eventually started carrying two sarees to the school.
She set up 'Balhatya Pratibandhak Griha' to prevent female infanticide and killing of widows and pregnant rape victims. She also set up 'Satyashodhak Samaj' along with her husband Jyotirao Phule which supported inter-caste marriages.
Apart from being a social reformer she was also a poet. Her first collection of poems was 'Kavya Phule' and was published in 1854. Her death was also a testimony of her noble soul. While taking care of the patients during the third global pandemic of the bubonic plague, she contracted the disease herself and passed away on march 10, 1897.
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