Fatima Sheikh
Drawing of Fatima Sheikh
Born(1831-01-09)9 January 1831[1]
Poona, Bombay Presidency, British India
Died9 October 1900
Occupation(s)Social reformer, teacher
Known forIndia’s First Muslim Woman teacher
RelativesMian Usman Sheikh (Brother)

Fatima Sheikh (9 January 1831 – 9 October 1900) was an Indian educator and social reformer, who was a colleague of the social reformers Jyotirao Phule and Savitribai Phule[2][3] She is widely considered to be India’s first Muslim woman teacher.[1]

Biography

Fatima Sheikh was the sister of Mian Usman Sheikh, in whose house Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule took up residence. One of the first Muslim women teachers of modern India, she started educating Bahujan children in Phules' school. Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule along with Fatima Sheikh took charge of spreading education among the downtrodden communities.

Fatima Sheikh met Savitribai Phule while both were enrolled at a teacher training institution run by Cynthia Farrar, an American missionary.[4] She taught at all five schools that the Phules went on to establish and she taught children of all religions and castes. Sheikh took part in the founding of two schools in Mumbai (Then Bombay) in 1851.[5]


In popular culture

On 9 January 2022, Google honoured Fatima Sheikh with a doodle on her 191st birth anniversary.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Fatima Sheikh's 191st Birthday". Google. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  2. ^ Susie J. Tharu; K. Lalita (1991). Women Writing in India: 600 B.C. to the early twentieth century. Feminist Press at CUNY. p. 162. ISBN 978-1-55861-027-9.
  3. ^ Madhu Prasad (2019). "A strategy for exclusion". Elementary Education in India: Policy Shifts, Issues and Challenges. ISBN 978-1000586954.
  4. ^ Grey, Mary (2016). "Opposition to Untouchability: Gandhi and Ambedkar". A Cry for Dignity: Religion, Violence and the Struggle of Dalit Women in India. Taylor & Francis. p. 118. ISBN 978-1315478401. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
  5. ^ Tschurenev, Jana (2019). "Civil Society, Government, and Educational Institution-Building, Bombay Presidency, 1819–1882". Empire, Civil Society, and the Beginnings of Colonial Education in India. Cambridge University Press. p. 276. ISBN 978-1108656269. Retrieved 17 February 2021.

External links


Categories