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| Fatima Sheikh and Savitribai Phule |
Fatima Sheikh was an Indian educator, who was a colleague of the social reformers Jyotiba Phule and Savitribai Phule. 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.
Sheikh met Savitribai Phule while both were enrolled at a teacher training institution run by Cynthia Farrar, an American missionary. She taught at all five schools that the Phules went on to establish and she taught children of all religions and castes. Sheikh took part in the founding of two schools in Bombay in 1851.
