The First Indian Woman Teacher : Savitribai Phule

"We shall overcome and success will be ours in the future. The future belongs to us."

Savitribai Phule was born on 3 January 1831 in the village of Naigaon in Satara District, Maharashtra. She was an Indian social reformer, educationalist, and poet from Maharashtra. She is regarded as the first female teacher of India. Along with her husband, Jyotirao Phule, she played an important and vital role in improving women's rights in India. She is regarded as the mother of Indian feminism. Savitribai and her husband founded one of the first Indian girls' school in Pune, at Bhide wada in 1848.

She worked to abolish the discrimination and unfair treatment of people based on caste and gender. She is regarded as an important figure of the social reform movement in Maharashtra.

At the time of her marriage Savitribai was an illiterate. Jyotirao educated Savitribai at their home.  After completing her primary education with Jyotirao, her further education was the responsibility of his friends, Sakharam Yeshwant Paranjpe and Keshav Shivram Bhavalkar.She also enrolled herself in two teacher's training programs. The first was at institution run by an American missionary, Cynthia Farrar, in Ahmednagar. The second course was at a Normal School in Pune.Given her training, Savitribai may have been the first Indian woman teacher and headmistress. Savitribai's birthdate, i.e. 3 January, is celebrated as Balika Din in the whole of Maharashtra, especially in girls' schools.

After completing her teacher's education, Savitribai Phule started teaching girls at the Maharwada in Pune. She did so alongside Sagunabai who was a revolutionary feminist as well as a mentor to Jyotirao.[citation needed] Not long after beginning to teach with Sagunabai, Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule along with Sagunabai started their own school at Bhide Wada. Bhide Wada was the home of Tatya Saheb Bhide, who was inspired by the work that the trio was doing. The curriculum at Bhide Wada included traditional western curriculum of mathematics, science, and social studies. By the end of 1851, Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule were running three different schools for girls in Pune. Combined, the three schools had approximately one hundred and fifty students enrolled.

In the 1850s, Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule established two educational trusts. They were entitled: the Native Female School, Pune and the Society for Promoting the Education of Mahars, Mangs, and Etceteras. These two trusts ended up encompassing many schools which were led by Savitribai Phule and later, Fatima Sheikh..

Savitribai died a heroic death trying to save the son of Pandurang

Babaji Gaekwad. Upon learning that Gaekwad's son had contracted the Plague in the Mahar settlement outside of Mundhwa, Savitribai Phule rushed to his side and carried him on her back to the hospital. In the process, Savitribai Phule caught the Plague and died at 9:00pm on 10 March 1897.

To inspire everyone from her life, we organized a program for our students in Primary Section. Our educator gave information about her life and presented a video on PPT . And from that , students learned that how much problems she faced while educating to girls. Not only education, but she also removed all the problems related to girls and women. One of our student gave speech about her . And our students performed wonderful drama on Savitribai Phule. Which was really inspiriable. We ended our program with the amazing words given by our Principal Mr. NITIN PATIL.