https://indianpedia.org/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=117.242.232.59IndianPedia - User contributions [en]2026-07-30T11:30:48ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Fatima_Sheikh&diff=299215Fatima Sheikh2022-01-17T11:55:50Z<p>117.242.232.59: </p>
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<div>{{Short description|19th-century Indian educator and social reformer}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}<br />
{{Infobox person<br />
| name = Fatima Sheikh<br />
| image = Madam Fatima Sheikh.jpeg<br />
| alt = <br />
| caption = Drawing of Fatima Sheikh<br />
| native_name_lang = <br />
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1831|1|9|df=yes}}<ref name=":0" /><br />
| birth_place = [[Poona]], [[Bombay Presidency]], [[Company Raj]]<!-- British Raj was established in 1858 which was the successor of Company Raj of India. --><br/>(present-day [[Pune]], [[Maharashtra]], [[India]])<br />
| death_date = <br />
| death_place = <br />
| occupation = Social reformer, teacher<br />
| era = <br />
| organisation = <br />
| known_for = India’s First Muslim Woman teacher<br />
| spouse = <br />
| parents = <br />
| relatives = Mian Usman Sheikh (Brother)<br />
}}<br />
'''Fatima Sheikh''' (9 January 1831 – ?) was an Indian educator and social reformer, who was a colleague of the social reformers [[Jyotirao Phule]] and [[Savitribai Phule]].<ref name="TharuLalita1991">{{cite book |author1 =Susie J. Tharu <br />
|author2=K. Lalita |title=Women Writing in India: 600 B.C. to the early twentieth century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u297RJP9gvwC&pg=PA162 |year=1991 |publisher=Feminist Press at CUNY |isbn=978-1-55861-027-9 |page=162 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Elementary Education in India: Policy Shifts, Issues and Challenges|author=Madhu Prasad|chapter=A strategy for exclusion|year=2019|isbn=978-1000586954}}</ref> She is widely considered to be India’s first Muslim woman teacher.<ref name=":0" /><br />
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== Biography ==<br />
Fatima Sheikh was the sister of Mian Usman Sheikh, in whose house [[Jyotirao Phule|Jyotirao]] and Savitribai Phule took up residence. One of the first Muslim women teachers of modern India, she started educating Bahujan children in Phules' school. [[Jyotirao Phule|Jyotirao]] and Savitribai Phule along with Fatima Sheikh took charge of spreading education among the downtrodden communities.<br />
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Sheikh met Savitribai Phule while both were enrolled at a teacher training institution run by [[Cynthia Farrar]], an [[American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions|American missionary]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Cry_for_Dignity/FeVmDAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=Savitribai%20fatima%20sheikh|title=A Cry for Dignity: Religion, Violence and the Struggle of Dalit Women in India|first=Mary|last=Grey|chapter=Opposition to Untouchability: Gandhi and Ambedkar|page=118|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|year=2016|isbn=978-1315478401|access-date=February 17, 2021}}</ref> She taught at all five schools that the Phules went on to establish and she taught children of all religions and castes. Sheikh took part in the founding of two schools in Mumbai (Then Bombay) in 1851.<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Empire_Civil_Society_and_the_Beginnings/03SmDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Savitribai+fatima+sheikh&pg=PA276&printsec=frontcover|title=Empire, Civil Society, and the Beginnings of Colonial Education in India|first=Jana|last=Tschurenev|chapter=Civil Society, Government, and Educational Institution-Building, Bombay Presidency, 1819–1882|page=276|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|year=2019|isbn=978-1108656269|access-date=February 17, 2021}}</ref><br />
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==In popular culture==<br />
On 9 January 2022, [[Google]] honoured Fatima Sheikh with a [[Google Doodle|doodle]] on her 191st birth anniversary.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Fatima Sheikh's 191st Birthday|url=https://www.google.com/doodles/fatima-sheikhs-191st-birthday|access-date= 9 January 2022|website=Google|language=en}}</ref><br />
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==References==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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==External links==<br />
* [https://theprint.in/opinion/why-indian-history-has-forgotten-fatima-sheikh-but-remembers-savitribai-phule/175208/ ''Why Indian history has forgotten Fatima Sheikh but remembers Savitribai Phule''] – article from [[ThePrint]]<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheikh, Fatima}}<br />
[[Category:19th-century Indian educators]]<br />
[[Category:Indian Muslims]]<br />
[[Category:Jyotirao Phule]]<br />
[[Category:People from Maharashtra]]<br />
[[Category:Founders of Indian schools and colleges]]<br />
[[Category:1831 births]]<br />
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