Book reading session as part of #ProjectUtthaan was started in TMC School No: 54, Hindi medium, Patlipada on 20/12/2016. Sonal of class 8 read out the story of 'Puthul aur Dolphin' to her classmates, a story which inspires to have compassion towards other living beings and the ones in need. Once the story telling was done, Chandan Singh then came forward and explained the moral of the story to all. The moral of the story was that if you offer help to someone when they are in need of it, it will come back to you when you least expect it. Also, the class had a photo of Savitribai Phule hanging on the wall. We had a book on her in Marathi and I asked the class 8 kids whom she was. Sonal was the first to answer. She explained that there was a time when girls were not allowed school education and that it was Savitribai Phule who took efforts to provide education to the girl child and started off the social reform. Anjali Jaiswar read out the Marathi book on Savitribai Phule and also explained the whole thing once again in Hindi. Savitribai Jyotirao Phule (3 January 1831 – 10 March 1897) was an Indian social reformer and poet. Along with her husband, Jyotirao Phule, she played an important role in improving women's rights in India during British rule. The couple founded the first women's school at Bhide Wada in Pune in 1848. She also worked to abolish discrimination and unfair treatment of people based on caste and gender. She is regarded as an important figure of the Social Reform Movement in Maharashtra.
Savitribai was taught to read and write by her husband, Jyotirao. As one of the very few indigenous literate women of the time, she played a full part in her husband's social reform movement by becoming a teacher at the schools he started for girls and later for the so called untouchables in Pune. For this task, she had to endure a lot of abuse at the hands of the orthodox society of Pune. The couple were felicitated by the then colonial government of Bombay Presidency in 1850s for this work. During the 19th century, arranged marriages before the age of maturity was the norm in the Hindu society of Maharashtra. Since mortality rates were high, many young girls often became widows even before attaining maturity. Due to social and cultural practices of the times, widow remarriage was out of question in many upper castes and therefore prospects for the young widows from those castes were poor. The 1881 Kolhapur gazetteer records that widows at that time used to shave their heads, and wear simple red saris and had to lead a very austere life with little joy. Despite being required to look austere, the young widows often used to become targets of lust by men and become pregnant. Upon being found out, the widows used to be thrown out of home by their families. To help these women, Savitribai and Jyotirao started a home for widows. [Source: Wikipedia]
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Ashik Krishnan KGandhi Fellow 2016-18 Archives
July 2017
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