Two 'first women'

When our globalized world commemorates International Women's Day, the homage to Savitribai Phule and Fatima Sheikh — the two 'first women' teachers — seems not only appropriate but also a timely reminder on how social justice, equality, higher education and upward mobility have brought women on to the centre-stage in our caste-ridden hierarchical society

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Wrapped in our centuries-old history lie micro-histories with stories that inspire; enveloped within those stories are layers of micro-stories which broaden understanding. When Gail Omvedt, undoubtedly one of modern India's finest historians was unraveling layers of anti-caste movements, she wrote 'Seeking Begumpura' devoting an entire chapter of 25 pages to Jotirao Phule. It was titled 'Remembering the Kingdom of Bali'. In it, she had only one sentence for his wife, Savitribai: "In 1849 and 1851 he founded schools for girls and untouchables with his wife Savitribai among the teachers. A couple of schools at the beginning led to several more and to an association."

While Jotirao had identified Brahmins as the main obstacle in the way of education and development of sudras and atisudras, it was Savitribai and her teacher-colleagues Fatima Sheikh and Sagunabai Kshirsagar who made Jotirao's dream of establishing schools for girls' education a reality.

Jotirao, Omvedt explained, was named not after the lamp (Jyoti) but after the popular folk deity (Joti) in Maharashtra who is indeed a symbol of the peasantry: another story to light up the world of oppressed castes.

In fact Phule's anti-caste fervour, his growing number of village-level achievements even in the 1840s and 1850s overshadowed the sweat, toil and work of both Savitribai and Fatima Sheikh.

It is also a pointer to the humility of the two teachers who rarely, if ever, sought to be in the public eye. By the time the stellar contributions of Savitribai became known, she was being hailed as the 'first woman teacher' who championed the cause of women's education and the rights of sudras to be educated. Fatima Sheikh still remained in the background.

If we fast track to independent India, today there were educational institutes, scholarships and awards named after Savitribai Phule and as recently as 2014, the University of Pune was named after her.