You would think the first female teacher of India would be showered with flower petals, but instead when on her way to the school she had set up, Savitribai Phule bore the brunt of not just harsh words, but was also pelted with rotten eggs and cow dung. But nothing stopped her from walking the path she had chosen — that of educating the girls of India. A mission she saw through till she took her last breath on March 10, 1897. It was during the Poona plague that she carried a ten-year-old boy to the clinic who was strapped to her back. The boy survived, but we lost Savitribai Phule.
Parent-teacher meetings and vocational training were the nom du jour at Savitribai Phule's school which she set up along with her husband, Jyotirao Phule.
Savitribai Phule is also known as one of India's first feminists. Not only did she open a care centre for pregnant rape victims and help them deliver their baby, she also worked a lot for widows. She walked the talk too, by marrying her son in the simplest of manners, minus shenanigans or dowry. It is upon the strong foundation that she built that women of India stand on today.
