SAVITRI BAI PHULE – The First Indian Women
Teacher
DARSHANA VIKAS WAHULE
BA. FY
SUBJECT – COMPULSORY ENGLISH
PRN -2122001787
i Ph u le
Savitriba
2
le Birth da y
t ribai P h u
Savi
• Savitribai Phule was born on 3rd January
1831.
• Savitribai was born in Satara district of
Maharashtra.
• Savitribai Phule, the First Indian Woman
Teacher.
• She was not only a teacher but also a
social reformer, activist and poet.
d uctio n
Intro
• Savitribai Phule was an Indian social reformer, educationalist, and poet from Maharashtra.
Along with her husband, in Maharashtra, she played an important and vital role in
improving women's rights in India. She is considered to be the pioneer of India's feminist
movement.
• Savitribai and her husband founded one of the first modern 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.
• A philanthropist and an educationist, Savitribai was also a prolific Marathi writer.
Education
•Savitribai was illiterate at the time of her marriage. Jyotirao educated Savitribai and
Sagunabai Shirsagar, his cousin sister at their home along with working at their farm .
•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, and the second course was at a
Normal School in Pune.
•Given her training, Savitribai may have been the first Indian woman teacher and headmistress.
Career
• Savitribai Phule was also a author and poet. She published Kavya Phule in 1854 and Bavan
Kashi Subodh Ratnakar in 1892, and also a poem entitled "Go, Get Education" in which she
encouraged those who are oppressed to free themselves by obtaining an education.
• As a result of her experience and work, she became an ardent feminist. She established the
Mahila Seva Mandal to raise awareness for issues concerning women's rights.
• She also called for a gathering place for women that was free of caste discrimination or
differentiation of any kind. Symbolic of this was that all the women that attended were to sit
on the same mat.
• She was also an anti-infanticide activist. She opened a women's shelter called the Home for
the Prevention of Infanticide, where Brahmin widows could safely deliver their children and
leave them there to be adopted if they so desired. She also campaigned against child
marriage and was an advocate of widow remarriage.
• Savitribai and Jyotirao strongly opposed Sati Pratha, and they started a home for widows
and forlorn children.
ADD A FOOTER 7
POETRY AND OTHER WORK
Savitribai Phule was also a author and poet.
She published Kavya Phule in 1854 and Bavan Kashi Subodh Ratnakar in 1892, and also
a poem entitled "Go, Get Education" in which she encouraged those who are
oppressed to free themselves by obtaining an education.
As a result of her experience and work, she became an ardent feminist.
She established the Mahila Seva Mandal to raise awareness for issues concerning
women's rights.
She also called for a gathering place for women that was free of caste discrimination
or differentiation of any kind.
Symbolic of this was that all the women that attended were to sit on the same mat.
She was also an anti-infanticide activist.
ADD A FOOTER 8
POETRY AND OTHER WORK (Contd.)
She opened a women's shelter called the Home for the Prevention of Infanticide, where
Brahmin widows could safely deliver their children and leave them there to be adopted
if they so desired.
She also campaigned against child marriage and was an advocate of widow
remarriage.
Savitribai and Jyotirao strongly opposed Sati Pratha, and they started a home for
widows and forlorn children.
In a letter to Jyotirao, Savitribai told the story about a boy about to be lynched by his
fellow villagers for having relations with a woman of lower caste when Savitribai
intervened. She wrote, "I came to know about their murderous plan. I rushed to the
spot and scared them away, pointing out the grave consequences of killing the lovers
under the British law. They changed their mind after listening to me".
ADD A FOOTER 9
Death
Savitribai and her adopted son, Yashwant, opened a clinic to treat those affected by the
worldwide Third Pandemic of the bubonic plague when it appeared in the area around
Nalasopara in 1897.
The clinic was established at stern outskirts of Pune, in an area free of infection.
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
ADD A FOOTER 10
Thank-you
ADD A FOOTER 11
