Fatima Sheikh
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{{Short description|19th-century Indian educator and social reformer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Fatima Sheikh
| image = Savitribai Phule with Fatima Sheikh.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Photograph of Savitribai Phule and Fatima Sheikh, with unidentified woman in back and two students from their school seated, {{circa|1850}}
| native_name_lang =
| occupation = Social reformer, teacher
| era =
| organisation =
| known_for = India's first Muslim woman teacher
| spouse =
| parents =
| relatives = Mian Usman Sheikh (Brother)
}}
Fatima Sheikh was a 19th century Indian educator and social reformer, who was a colleague of the social reformers Jyotiba Phule and Savitribai Phule.{{cite book |first1=Susie J. |last1=Tharu |first2=K. |last2=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}}{{cite book |last=Prasad |first=Madhu |chapter=A strategy for exclusion |title=Elementary Education in India: Policy Shifts, Issues and Challenges |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2019 |isbn=978-1000586954 |editor-last=Raina |editor-first=Jyoti |pages=166 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kG2pDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT166}} Sheikh is widely regarded as India's first Muslim woman teacher and is remembered for her role in educating and empowering women and marginalized communities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Biography
Fatima Sheikh was the sister of Mian Usman Sheikh, a resident of Pune in the neighbourhood of Ganjpeth, who was also a friend of Jyotiba Phule.{{cite news |last1=O'Hanlon |first1=Rosalind |author1-link=Polly O'Hanlon |title=What a photograph tells us about Fatima Sheikh |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/photograph-savitribai-phule-fatima-sheikh-7725362/ |work=The Indian Express |date=16 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220216124738/https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/photograph-savitribai-phule-fatima-sheikh-7725362/ |archive-date=16 February 2022 |url-status=live}} According to Nasreen Sayyed, author of a book on Fatima Sheikh, Sheikh was already literate and Usman encouraged her to receive teacher training, adding that "She went along with Savitribai Phule to the Normal School and they both graduated together. She was the first Muslim woman teacher of India."{{cite web |last=Kandukuri |first=Divya |title=The life and times of Savitribai Phule |website=Mint Lounge |date=11 January 2019 |url=https://lifestyle.livemint.com/news/talking-point/the-life-and-times-of-savitribai-phule-111642592582316.html |access-date=22 January 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230106201812/https://lifestyle.livemint.com/news/talking-point/the-life-and-times-of-savitribai-phule-111642592582316.html |archive-date=6 January 2023 |url-status=live}}
Sheikh and Savitribai subsequently received teacher training from Cynthia Farrar, an American missionary in Ahmednagar.{{cite book |last=Grey |first=Mary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FeVmDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA118 |title=A Cry for Dignity: Religion, Violence and the Struggle of Dalit Women in India |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2016 |isbn=978-1315478401 |pages=117–118 |chapter=Opposition to Untouchability: Gandhi and Ambedkar}} They established their first girls' school in a portion of Usman Sheikh's house in 1848, under the name "Indigenous Library".{{cite web |last=Khan |first=Aqsa Khan |url=https://feminisminindia.com/2017/06/22/fatima-sheikh-essay |title=Remembering Fatima Sheikh: A Woman Lost In History - #IndianWomenInHistory |website=Feminism in India |date=22 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241207214026/https://feminisminindia.com/2017/06/22/fatima-sheikh-essay/ |archive-date=7 December 2024 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |last=Apurva |first=Ankita |url=https://livewire.thewire.in/livewire/fatima-sheikh-india-history-feminism-caste-savitribhai-phule/ |title=Why Do Caste Gatekeepers Not Tell Us About Fatima Sheikh? |website=LiveWire, The Wire |date=26 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240225061546/https://livewire.thewire.in/livewire/fatima-sheikh-india-history-feminism-caste-savitribhai-phule/ |archive-date=25 February 2024 |url-status=live}} It was a revolutionary project since in the social milieu of those times, girls were not allowed to receive public education. The two teachers had to go house to house to promote their school and to persuade parents to send their children there.
The Phules faced resistance from Jyotiba's parents for their social work, and had to leave the ancestral home. They went to live with Usman Sheikh, and stayed there till 1856.
Fatima Sheikh taught alongside Savitribai Phule at two schools established by the Phules in July 1851, with financial support from Thomas Erskine Perry. These "Native Female Schools" educated girls from diverse caste backgrounds, teaching the more advanced students a broad curriculum including history, geography, arithmetic, and socio-economic issues. According to Jana Tschurenev, "Savitribai and Fatima Sheikh were the first Indian women teachers outside the domain of missionary supervision." Their work helped pave the way for other women to enter teaching in India and the success of the schools contributed to future government support of female education in India.{{cite book |last=Tschurenev |first=Jana |title=Empire, Civil Society, and the Beginnings of Colonial Education in India |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2019 |isbn=978-1108656269 |pages=276-279 |chapter=Civil Society, Government, and Educational Institution-Building, Bombay Presidency, 1819–1882 |access-date=17 February 2021 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=03SmDwAAQBAJ&dq=Savitribai+fatima+sheikh&pg=PA276}}
Recognition
In 2014, the state of Maharashtra included a brief profile of Fatima Sheikh in Urdu language textbooks.{{cite news |last=Sengupta |first=Arjun |title=Who was Fatima Sheikh: India's oft-forgotten feminist icon |work=The Indian Express |date=10 January 2023 |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/who-was-fatima-sheikh-indias-forgotten-feminist-icon-8371155/ |access-date=12 January 2025 |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241207052102/https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/who-was-fatima-sheikh-indias-forgotten-feminist-icon-8371155/ |archive-date=7 December 2024 |url-status=live}}
Many people regard 9 January as the date of her birth, using it for remembrance.{{cite news |first=Vandana |last=Menon |title=Fatima Sheikh: The woman who reshaped Indian education with Savitribai Phule |newspaper=ThePrint |date=9 January 2018 |url=https://theprint.in/report/fatima-sheikh-reshaped-indian-education-savitribai-phule/27603/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241208001444/https://theprint.in/report/fatima-sheikh-reshaped-indian-education-savitribai-phule/27603/ |archive-date=8 December 2024 |url-status=live}}{{cite news |last=Nasiruddin |date=10 January 2025 |orig-date=13 September 2020 |title=faatima shekh, saavitree baee phule kee saathee theen ya nahin, upalabdh dastaavez kya bataate hain? |script-title=hi:फ़ातिमा शेख़, सावित्री बाई फुले की साथी थीं या नहीं, उपलब्ध दस्तावेज़ क्या बताते हैं? |trans-title=Was Fatima Sheikh a companion of Savitribai Phule or not, what do the available documents tell us? |url=https://www.bbc.com/hindi/articles/cy0pndg47k5o |work=BBC News |language=hi |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250114182019/https://www.bbc.com/hindi/articles/cy0pndg47k5o |archive-date=14 January 2025 |url-status=live}} On 9 January 2022, Google commemorated Sheikh with a Google Doodle marking what it referred to as her 191st birth anniversary, describing her as being "widely considered to be India's first Muslim woman teacher".{{cite web |title=Fatima Sheikh's 191st Birthday |url=https://doodles.google/doodle/fatima-sheikhs-191st-birthday/ |access-date=9 January 2022 |website=Google Doodles |language=en |archive-date=28 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240128160455/https://doodles.google/doodle/fatima-sheikhs-191st-birthday/ |url-status=live}} However, Reeta Ramamurthy Gupta, author of a 2023 biography of Savitribai Phule, later commented for a 2025 ThePrint article that "there is no evidence to suggest that she was born on the 9th of January".{{cite news |last1=Menon |first1=Vandana |title=Finding Fatima Sheikh: Scholars point to Phule's letter, photo negative & British-era document |url=https://theprint.in/india/finding-fatima-sheikh-scholars-point-to-phules-letter-photo-negative-british-era-document/2440053/ |access-date=11 January 2025 |work=ThePrint |date=10 January 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250114214226/https://theprint.in/india/finding-fatima-sheikh-scholars-point-to-phules-letter-photo-negative-british-era-document/2440053/ |archive-date=14 January 2025 |url-status=live}}
In 2022, the Andhra Pradesh government introduced Sheikh into its textbooks.{{Cite web |last=Patnaik |first=Santosh |date=2022-11-04 |title=AP introduces lesson in schools on Fatima Sheikh, India's first woman Muslim teacher |url=https://www.siasat.com/ap-introduces-lesson-in-schools-on-fatima-sheikh-indias-first-woman-muslim-teacher-2449673/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111064853/https://www.siasat.com/ap-introduces-lesson-in-schools-on-fatima-sheikh-indias-first-woman-muslim-teacher-2449673/ |archive-date=2023-01-11 |access-date=2025-01-16 |website=The Siasat Daily |language=en}} In 2023, a statue of Sheikh was unveiled at an Urdu school in a town in Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh, recognizing her pioneering role in women's education in India.{{Cite web |last=Singh
|first=Pratikshit |date=2023-01-09 |title=Fatima Sheikh: Coming out of the shadows of Savitri Bai Phule|url=https://en.themooknayak.com/minority-news/fatima-sheikh-coming-out-of-the-shadows-of-savitri-bai-phule|website=The Mooknayak |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Fatima
|first=Masrath|date=2023-01-06 |title=AP: Statue of 1st ‘Muslim woman teacher’ Fatima Sheikh unveiled|url=https://www.siasat.com/ap-statue-of-fatima-sheikh-first-muslim-woman-teacher-unveiled-2496818/|website=The Siasat Daily |language=en}} During the 2019–2020 Shaheen Bagh protests in Delhi, a library set up at the protest site was named after Savitribai Phule and Fatima Sheikh.{{Cite web |last=Gupta |first=Anamni |date=15 February 2020 |title=In Shaheen Bagh, turning a new page of protest |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/shaheen-bagh-library-caa-protest-fatima-sheikh-savitri-bai-phule-6267528/ |access-date=27 May 2025 |website=The Indian Express |language=en |quote=It was January 17, the death anniversary of Rohith Vemula, when the organisers, including Satya, Asif, Noor, brought in their own books — a bunch of 30-35 — and placed them on display at the Shaheen Bagh bus stand under the banner of Fatima Sheikh-Savitri Bai Phule Library.}}{{Cite web |last=Bhura |first=Sneha |date=18 February 2020 |title=The story behind the library at Shaheen Bagh |url=https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2020/02/17/the-story-behind-the-library-at-shaheen-bagh.html |access-date=27 May 2025 |website=The Week |language=en}} Reading circles were also set up in Fatima Sheikh's name.
References
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Category:19th-century Indian educators
Category:19th-century Indian women educators
Category:19th-century Indian Muslims
Category:People from Maharashtra