‘First Muslim woman teacher’: Fatima Sheikh’s statue unveiled days before birth anniversary

Often referred to as India’s ‘first Muslim woman teacher’, Fatima Sheikh was born on this day in 1831 in Pune, India.

Her statue was unveiled in Andhra Pradesh last week ahead of her birth anniversary. The Andhra Pradesh government has also introduced a lesson on the contribution of Fatima Sheikh (9 January 1831 – 9 October 1900) in the textbooks of the eighth class.

She is considered one of India’s finest social reformers and educators bearing the credit of being the first Muslim woman to have tutored modern education in the country.

Fatima not only offered her house to the social reformer couple Jyoti Rao Phule and Savitribai Phule, who fought to promote girls’ education, but she also joined them in promoting education among girls.

When the Phules were thrown out by their families for promoting education among Dalits and other castes, Fatima Sheikh encouraged the couple to establish the first all-girls school in Bombay Presidency at her home in Pune, the then Bombay Presidency.
She lived with her brother Usman, and the siblings opened their home to the Phules after the couple was evicted for attempting to educate people in lower castes. The Indigenous Library opened under the Sheikhs’ roof. Here, Savitribai Phule and Fatima Sheikh taught communities of marginalized Dalit and Muslim women and children who were denied education based on class, religion, or gender.