Who is Fatima Sheikh? Google Doodle celebrates her 191st birthday 

Who is Fatima Sheikh: Google celebrated the 191st birthday of Fatima Sheikh with a doodle on January 9, 2022. Fatima Sheikh was an Indian educator and a feminist icon. She is remembered as India's first Muslim woman teacher. 

Fatima Sheikh along with other social reformers Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule co-founded Indigenous Library in 1848, one of India's first schools for girls.

Fatima Sheikh was born on January 9, 1831 in Pune. Google honoured her birthday with a meticulous doodle in a combination of white, blue and yellow that presents a glance at her life. The doodle displays an illustration of Fatima Sheikh along with two open books in the background. 

Fatima Sheikh birthday- January 9, 1831

Who is Fatima Sheikh?

•  Fatima Sheikh lived with her brother Usman and they opened their home to Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule, who were evicted from their home for attempting to educate people from the lower castes.

•  Together, they opened the Indigenous Library to educate young girls in 1848. Savitribai Phule and Fatima Sheikh taught marginalised Dalit and Muslim women and children who were denied education based on class, religion, or gender in the school.

•  Their effort to provide equal education opportunities to the lower castes came to be known as the Satyashodhak Samaj (Truthseekers’ Society) movement. 

•  Fatima Sheikh took up an active role under the movement by going door-to-door to invite the lower caste people to learn at the Indigenous Library.

•  She and her allies resisted the great resistance that came from the dominant classes who tried to put down and humiliate those involved in the Satyashodhak movement.

•  Fatima Sheikh has been hailed for her pioneering role in achieving her goal of education for all. Her achievements, which were historically overlooked, were included in the Urdu textbooks in 2014 alongside other trailblazing Indian educators.