Savitribai Phule

Hello, my name is Savitribai Phule, and I want to tell you my story. I was born on January 3rd, 1831, in a small village in India called Naigaon. When I was a little girl, things were very different from how they are today. In my village, girls were not allowed to go to school. We were not supposed to learn how to read or write, but I always wanted to learn. When I was still a child, in the year 1840, I married my husband, Jyotirao Phule. He was a kind man who had a very important idea. He believed that everyone, including girls and women, should have the chance to get an education.

My husband Jyotirao saw how much I wanted to learn, so he began to teach me how to read and write right in our own home. I loved it. Every new letter and word felt like opening a door to a bigger world. Learning made me so happy that I knew I had to share this feeling with other girls. I wanted to become a teacher. So, my husband and I decided to do something that had never been done before. In 1848, we opened our very first school just for girls in a city called Pune. I was so proud to become India's first woman teacher. At first, some people did not like our idea of teaching girls. They would sometimes try to stop me on my way to the school. But I knew that what we were doing was important, and I refused to give up on my students.

We didn't stop with just one school. We knew that so many children needed a chance to learn, so Jyotirao and I opened many more schools for children from all kinds of families. Our work was not just about schools, though. We wanted to help people who were treated unfairly in other ways, too. We opened a safe home for women who had nowhere else to go and needed help. I also found another way to share my thoughts and ideas with the world. I loved to write poems. In my poems, I wrote about why learning is so important and why everyone should be brave and stand up for what is right.

I spent my whole life working to help others. During a big sickness called the plague in 1897, I worked hard to care for sick people and their families. I lived to be 66 years old. Today, people in India and all over the world remember me as a teacher who fought for every child's right to go to school. The schools I started helped change the future for so many girls. My story shows that girls can do amazing things and that education can help everyone achieve their dreams.