Savitribai Phule (; 3 January 1831 – 10 March 1897) was an Indian educator, social reformer, and poet, widely regarded as the first Indian female teacher. Along with her husband, Jyotirao Phule, she took a pivotal role in advancing women's rights and education in Maharashtra, leaving a legacy that continues to influence social reform movements across India. She is also considered a front runner of India's feminist movement. She worked to abolish discrimination and the unfair treatment of people based on caste and gender. Savitribai Phule and her husband were trailblazers in women's education in India. In 1848, together with Jyotirao and Sagunabai Kshirsagar, she established the first school for girls at the residence of Tatyasaheb Bhide, known as Bhide Wada in Pune, on a progressive syllabus of mathematics, science, and social studies, in spite of strong opposition from society. By 1851, they had established three girls' schools in Pune, with around 150 students. In total, the couple opened 18 schools. Later, she also co-founded the Satyashodhak Samaj (lit. 'Society of Truth Seekers') in 1873 and led its women's wing.
Savitribai’s career was remarked by her relentless efforts in advancing education for girls and marginalized communities. Apart from opening schools, she and Jyotirao also started initiatives such as "Mahila Seva Mandal" in 1851 to promote women's rights and the "Balhatya Pratibandhak Griha", an infanticide prevention center for widows in 1853. Savitribai’s literary contributions include Kavya Phule (1854) and Bavan Kashi Subhodh Ratnakar (1892). She died of bubonic plague in 1897. Today her legacy as the “Mother of Modern Education in India” endures, commemorated through memorials, institutional names, and cultural representations.
Savitribai Phule was born on 3 January 1831, in the village of Naigaon in Satara District, Maharashtra. She was the youngest daughter of four children born to Laxshmi and Khandoji Nevse Patil, both of whom belonged to the Mali community. Savitribai married Jyotirao Phule, at the age of 9 in 1840, when he was 13 years old.
Savitribai was illiterate at the time of her marriage. She received her education from her husband, Jyotirao Phule, and his mother figure Sagunabai Kshirsagar, who taught her to read and write at home and while working on their farm. Once she completed her primary education with Jyotirao, she continued her studies under the guidance of her mentors, Sakharam Yeshwant Paranjpe and Keshav Shivram Bhavalkar. In 1846–47, she passed the third and fourth-year examinations in an English school, and in the same year, she helped Sagunabai establish a school for marginalized communities in Maharwada. She enrolled herself in two teachers' training programs: the first was at an institution run by an American missionary, Cynthia Farrar, in Ahmednagar, and the second course was at a Normal School in Pune. Savitribai became India's first formally-trained female teacher and headmistress.
After completing her teacher's training, Savitribai Phule started teaching girls at Pune. She did so alongside Sagunabai Kshirsagar, paternal aunt of Jyotiba Phule who was a revolutionary feminist and a mentor to Jyotirao. In January 1848, Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule, along with Sagunabai, started their own school at Bhidewada and it became India's first girls' school. Bhidewada was the home of Tatya Saheb Bhide, who was inspired by the work that the trio was doing. According to some sources, the school initially had 9 girls and later number increased to 25 students. The curriculum at Bhidewada included a traditional Western curriculum of mathematics, science, and social studies. Due to social opposition and ostracisation from orthodox community, the Phules relocated to the residence of their associate Usman Shaikh. There, Savitribai Phule and Fatima Sheikh –Usman’s sister, continued their efforts to educate girls in the local neighbourhood.
By the end of 1851, Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule were running three different schools for girls in Pune. Combined, the three schools had approximately one hundred and fifty students enrolled. Like the curriculum, the teaching methods employed by the three schools differed from those used in government schools. The author Divya Kandukuri believes that the Phule methods were regarded as being superior to those used by government schools. As a result of this reputation, the number of girls receiving their education at the Phules' schools outnumbered the number of boys enrolled in government schools.
Unfortunately, Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule's success came with much resistance from the local community with conservative views. Kandukuri states that Savitribai often travelled to her school carrying an extra sari because she would be assailed by her conservative opponents with stones, dung, and verbal abuse. Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule were living at Jyotirao's father's home. However, in 1849, Jyotirao's father asked the couple to leave his home because their work was considered a sin as per the Manusmriti and its derived Brahmanical texts.
After moving out of Jyotirao's father's home, the Phules moved in with the family of one of Jyotirao's friends, Usman Sheikh. It was there that Savitribai met a soon-to-be close friend and colleague named Fatima Begum Sheikh. According to Nasreen Sayyed, a leading scholar on Sheikh, "Fatima Sheikh knew how to read and write already, so her brother Usman who was a friend of Jyotiba, had encouraged Fatima to take up the teacher training course. She went along with Savitribai to the Normal School and they both graduated together. She was the first Muslim woman teacher of India". Fatima and Savitribai opened a school in Sheikh's home in 1849.
In the 1850s, Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule were instrumental in establishing two educational trusts. They were entitled to the Native Male School, Pune, and the Society for Promoting the Education of Mahar, Mangs, etc. These two trusts ended up encompassing many schools which were led by Savitribai Phule and later, Fatima Sheikh.
Jyotirao summarizes Savitribai and his work in an interview given to the Christian missionary periodical, Dnyanodaya, on 15 September 1853, saying, It did occur to me that the improvement that comes about in a child due to the mother is very important and good. So those who are concerned with the happiness and welfare of this country should definitely pay attention to the condition of women and make every effort to impart knowledge to them if they want the country to progress. With this thought, I started the school for girls first. But my caste brethren did not like that I was educating girls and my own father threw us out of the house. Nobody was ready to give space for the school nor did we have money to build it. People were not willing to send their children to school but Lahuji Ragh Raut Mang and Ranba Mahar convinced their caste brethren about the benefits of getting educated.
Together with her husband, she taught children from different castes and opened a total of 18 schools. In 1852, there were three Phule schools in operation with 273 girls pursuing education in these schools, but by 1858 they had all been closed. Eleanor Zelliot blames the closure on private European donations drying up due to the Rebellion of 1857, withdrawal of government support, and Jyotirao resigning from the school management committee because of disagreement regarding the curriculum.
In 1863, the Phule couple with their longtime friend Sadashiv Ballal Govande started an infanticide prevention centre called Balhatya Pratibandhak Griha mainly for pregnant widows. Pamphlets were stuck around Pune advertising the centre in the following words: "Widows, come here and deliver your baby safely and secretly. It is up to your discretion whether you want to keep the baby in the centre or take it with you. This orphanage will take care of the children [left behind]." The Phule couple ran the infanticide prevention centre until the mid-1880s.