Savitribai Phule 189th Birth Anniversary: Know About India’s First Female Teacher And Educationalist

Savitribai Phule was an Educationalist, Philanthropist and Social Activist from Maharashtra, India. Born on January 3, 1831, today we are observing 189th birth anniversary of the great social reformer whose ground-breaking work in the field of education and women rights helped in building a modern India. She is also regarded as the Mother of Feminism and the first female teacher of India who worked dedicatedly for women’s rights. Here are some facts about Savitribai that are worth mentioning as they show the journey of a woman whose life was dedicated for the upliftment of the society.

Savitribai along-with her husband, Jyotirao Phule worked for improving women rights in India. They also founded the first Indian Girl’s school at Pune in 1948. Phule was against the caste discrimination policies that were prevailing in those days and worked hard to abolish them. As a result, she is also regarded as the prominent social reformer from Maharashtra.

Phule also had a creative side and was a brilliant writer and poet. She published her work Kavya Phule and Bavan Kashi Subodh Ratnakar in 1854 and 1892 respectively. Her poem “Go, Get Education” encouraged everyone to take the help of education to get freedom from oppression.

She adopted a son named Yashwant, and they collectively opened a clinic to treat and help those who were affected by the epidemic disease, plague that spread in the Nalasopara area in 1897. She died like a hero while she was carrying a plague affected boy on her back to the hospital. On the way to hospital, the plague caught her and she dies on March 10, 1897.

In her honor, the University of Pune was renamed as Savitribai Phule Pune University in the year 2015. Other than this, Google too celebrated the 188th birth anniversary of Savitribai Phule with a Google Doodle.