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Google honours educator, social reformer Fatima Sheikh with a doodle

Fatima Sheikh, born on January 9, 1831, in Pune, is widely regarded as the country’s first Muslim woman teacher.

By Newsd
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Google honours educator, social reformer Fatima Sheikh with a doodle

Search engine Google marks the 191st birthday of Fatima Sheikh, social reformer, educator and feminist icon with a doodle on Sunday.

The beautiful Google Doodle in a combination of white, blue and yellow adds an illustration of Sheikh along with two open books in the background. The doodle presents Sheikh’s career at a glance.

Fatima Sheikh, born on January 9, 1831, in Pune, is widely regarded as the country’s first Muslim woman teacher.

She, along with fellow social reformers Jyotirao Phule and Savitribai Phule, co-founded the Indigenous Library in 1848, one of India’s first schools for girls, the company said.

“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 marginalised Dalit and Muslim women and children who were denied education based on class, religion, or gender,” Google said.

Her life stands as a testament to social reforms that were championed by Indian women in the pre-independence time, despite social criticism. As per Google’s blogspot, Sheikh’s story had been “historically overlooked” until 2014 when the Indian government highlighted her achievements in Urdu test books alongside other trailblazing Indian educators. Her work is also of the greatest significance for the oppressed Dalits and Muslims, as she was among the firsts to launch the joint struggle to make their voices heard.

Sheikh was a champion of the ‘Satyashodhak Samaj’ (Truthseekers’ Society) – the equality movement by the Phules to provide educational opportunities to the downtrodden communities – and went door-to-door and invited the members in her community to learn at the Indigenous Library to escape the rigidity of the Indian caste system. She met great resistance from the dominant classes who attempted to humiliate those involved in the Satyashodhak movement, but Sheikh and her allies persisted.

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