Who was Fatima Sheikh, Why Google Doodle Honours her

Ground Report | New Delhi: Who was Fatima Sheikh; Google on Sunday celebrated the 191st birth anniversary of teacher and feminist icon Fatima Sheikh, widely regarded as India's first Muslim female teacher, with a beautifully crafted doodle. Regarded as a "lifetime champion" in women's education, Sheikh, along with social reformers Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule, co-founded one of India's first schools for girls in 1848 and named it the Swadeshi Library.

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

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Who was Fatima Sheikh

Born on January 9, 1831 in Pune, Fatima Shaikh is admired for her resilience and pioneering role in promoting girls' education in a society that strongly opposed the idea of ​​education for girls. As a little girl, she lived with her brother Osman. The siblings opened their home to Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule after being chased for trying to educate people from the lower strata of the Indian caste system. Eventually, Shaikh, along with her fellow pioneers and social reformers Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule, co-founded the Swadeshi Library in 1848 to educate young girls.

In the library, Shaikh taught underprivileged Dalit and Muslim communities of women and children who were denied admission to traditional schools on the basis of caste, creed, religion and gender. Their combined efforts were recognized as the Satyashodhak Samaj (Satyashodhak Samaj) movement.

In the library, Sheikh taught marginalized communities of Dalit and Muslim women and children, who were denied admission to traditional schools on the basis of caste, creed, religion and gender. The combined efforts were recognized as the Satyashodhak Samaj (Satyashodhak Samaj) movement. "As a lifelong champion of this movement for equality, Sheikh went door-to-door inviting Dalits from her community to learn in the Swadeshi library and escape the rigors of the Indian caste system. She faced great resistance from the dominant classes. Attempts were made to humiliate those involved in the Satyashodhak movement, but Shaikh and her associates stood firm."

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Her life stands as a testament to the social reforms that were supported by Indian women in pre-independence times, despite social criticism. According to Google's Blogspot, Sheikh's story was "historically overlooked" until 2014, when the Indian government highlighted her achievements in Urdu test books along with other leading Indian teachers. Her work is also of utmost importance for Dalits and Muslims, as she was the first among those who started a joint struggle to make her voice heard.

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