India’s First Woman Teacher | Social Reformer | Trailblazer for Women’s Rights
Savitribai Phule was a pioneering educator, reformer, and poet who is celebrated as India’s first female teacher. Born in 1831 in Naigaon, Maharashtra, she defied rigid caste and gender norms to become a fearless advocate for education, equality, and social justice, especially for women and oppressed castes. Alongside her husband, Jyotirao Phule, she opened the first school for girls in Pune in 1848. Savitribai also worked tirelessly during the plague pandemic, personally nursing the sick, and eventually succumbed to the disease herself in 1897 while saving others.