>Jonas7798 at 05:07, 10 January 2022

2022-01-10T05:07:50Z

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{{Use dmy dates|date = July 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2018}}
{{Infobox royalty
|name=Begum Badar un nissa Akhtar
|image=|image_size=|caption=
|birth_date=1894
|birth_place=[[Midnapore]], [[Bengal Presidency]], [[British India]]
|death_date=1956
|death_place=[[Cuttack]], [[Odisha]], [[India]]
|religion=[[Islam]]
|spouse=[[Sayeed Mohammed]]
|house=''[[Suhrawardiyya]]'' (by birth)<br/>''[[Ni'matullāhī]]'' (by marriage)
|issue=Ather-ul Amin, Fazal-ul Amin, [[Afzal-ul Amin]], Niharara Akhtar, Husanara Begum
}}

'''Begum Badar un Nissa Akhtar''' (born 1894-1956; [[Midnapore]]) was an [[Indian people|Indian]] [[social reformer]] and [[educator]] from [[Cuttack]], [[Odisha]]. She is known for challenging the stringent and orthodox societal norms and for encouraging muslim girls to receive formal and skill based education from behind the [[purdah]] back in the early 20th century.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=CHATTERJEE|first=KABERI|date=1996|title=PROMOTION OF FEMALE EDUCATION IN 19TH CENTURY BENGAL|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/44133405|journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress|volume=57|pages=767–769|issn=2249-1937}}</ref> Begum herself attained formal education and took up a job as a teacher in [[Cuttack]] to educate young girls. She worked to promote [[female education]] and to abolish [[gender discrimination]] and [[gender injustice]] in the field of education. She is regarded as one of the first Muslim women teachers of modern British [[Odisha]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Sircar|first=Partha|date=2016-05-26|title=Early Women’s Education in Bengal and India|url=https://indiacurrents.com/early-womens-education-in-bengal-and-india/|access-date=2020-06-14|website=Best Indian American Magazine {{!}} San Jose CA {{!}} India Currents|language=en-US}}</ref>

== Biography ==

Badar un nissa was born into the illustrious [[Suhrawardy family]] of [[Midnapore]], [[West Bengal]], as the only daughter of the then subordinate judge of [[Calcutta High Court]], Aminuddin Al Amin Suhrawardy and his wife Aaalam-ara Begum. She was the granddaughter of [[Ubaidullah Al Ubaidi Suhrawardy]]. Badar un nissa received her formal education in [[Midnapore]] . After her father's death, she was married off to [[Sayeed Mohammed]], the eldest son of [[Atharuddin Mohammed]] of the Diwan family in [[Cuttack]].

In [[Cuttack]], Begum Badar proved to be of a great help to her husband, they both started to work for the upliftment of the muslim society. She helped Sayeed establish the Muslim Seminary at [[Cuttack]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ravenshaw Girls High School-Cuttack|url=http://www.schosys.com/institutes/33152/Ravenshaw-Girls-High-School|access-date=2020-06-14|website=Schosys}}</ref> After Sayeed's early death in 1922, Begum Badar un nissa was debarred from the family property and title as per the [[Shariat]], nevertheless she did not let this or her widowhood come on her way in carrying forward her husband's legacy.

In the early 1900s the idea of female education was still new in [[Odisha]]. Muslim girls were not allowed to attend schools or attain formal education outside their homes. Badar un nissa made her mind to educate the young girls who were shackled by the patriarchal and orthodox norms. Begum arranged for their education and took charge of it. She even arranged two ''purdaah-numa'' horse carriages for the female students and got them admitted to Ravenshaw girls high school, where she herself took up a job as a teacher. Badar un nissa faced resistance from the Muslim society for her actions, but against every odd, she continued to educate young girls in [[Cuttack]]. She used to go door-to-door to Muslim households and explain the importance of [[female education]].
She personally took the responsibility of educating young girls at school and also of bringing them to school safely in [[purdah]] and dropping them back home.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ravenshaw Girls' High School {{!}} Oriya Bazar, Cuttack, Odisha {{!}} Schools - Joon Square|url=https://www.joonsquare.com/schools/ravenshaw-girls-high-school-cuttack|access-date=2020-06-14|website=www.joonsquare.com}}</ref>

In her later life, she worked to abolish the discrimination and unfair treatment based on [[creed]] and [[gender]]. She even took the charge of spreading education among the downtrodden communities in [[Cuttack]]. She is regarded as one among the first Muslim women teachers of modern British [[Odisha]]. The Begum Badar un nissa assembly hall inside the Muslim Seminary at [[Cuttack]] is named after her.<ref>{{Cite web|title=GRIN - Female Education in 18th and 19th Century Britain|url=https://www.grin.com/document/180532|access-date=2020-06-14|website=www.grin.com|language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Fatima Sheikh]]
*[[Savitribai Phule]]
*[[Ramadevi Choudhury]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category: Suhrawardy family]]
[[Category:Amin family]]
[[Category:20th-century Bengalis]]
[[Category:Social workers from Odisha]]
[[Category:People from Midnapore]]

Begum Badar un nissa Akhtar - Revision history

>Jonas7798 at 05:07, 10 January 2022