Fatima Sheikh

Fatima Sheikh was an Indian educator, who was a colleague of the social reformers Jyotiba Phule and Savitribai Phule.[1] Fatima Sheikh was the sister of Mian Usman Sheikh, in whose house Jyotiba and Savitribai Phule took up residence. One of the first Muslim women teachers of modern India, she started educating Dalit children in Phules' school. Jyotiba and Savitribai Phule along with Fatima Sheikh, took charge of spreading education among the downtrodden communities.

Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule had to leave their home because they wanted to educate women and Dalits. For going against his Brahamanical views, Savitribai’s father-in-law threw them out of the house. In such trying times, Fatima Sheikh offered refuge to the couple. That home soon became the first girls’ school in the country. She taught at all five schools that the Phules went on to establish and she taught children of all religions and castes.

Little is known of Fatima Sheikh’s life beyond her involvement with the Phules. However, the resistance she faced must have been even more. She was marginalized not only as a woman but also as a Muslim woman. The upper caste people reacted vehemently and even violently to the start of these schools. They pelted stones and cow dung at Fatima and Savitribai while they would be on their way. But both the women remained undeterred. The journey was even tougher for Fatima Sheikh. Both the Hindu as well as the Muslim community shunned her. However, she never gave up and continued to go door to door, encouraging families and parents especially those from the Muslim community to send their daughters to school. As several writings say, Fatima used to spent hours counselling parents who did not wish to send their girls to schools.