Explained: Savitribai Phule

News:Prime Minister has paid tributes to Savitribai Phule on her birth anniversary.

Facts:

About Savitribai Phule:

• Savitribai Phule was an Indian activist, thinker, social reformer and writer from Maharashtra.
• Savitrabai along with her husband Jyotirao Phule had played an important role in improving women’s rights in India. 

Contributions:

• She established the Mahila Seva Mandal to raise awareness for issues concerning women’s rights.
• She became the first female teacher in India in 1848 and opened a school for girls along with her husband Jyotirao Phule.
• 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 had published Kavya Phule in 1854 and Bavan Kashi Subodh Ratnakar in 1892.In her poem, Go, Get an Education,she urges the oppressed communities to get an education and break free from the chains of oppression.
• She had also played a pivotal role in directing the work of Satyashodhak Samaj which was founded by Jyotirao Phule in 1873.
• Satya shodhak samaj was founded with a purpose to give education to the lower castes, scheduled caste, scheduled tribes and made them aware of the exploiting tradition of society.