To this day, in India, due to poverty, caste division and gender prejudice, not all children go to school. The struggle for the availability of education for all, regardless of wealth and origin, began about two centuries ago. And one of its leading participants was a Muslim teacher from the city of Pune, Fatima Sheikh. December 9 marks the 191st anniversary of her birth.

Together with her colleague and friend Savitribai Phul, who is considered the country's first female teacher, Sheikh worked to eradicate differences between castes, fought for the expansion of women's rights, the permissibility of remarriage for Hindus and the permission of marriages between representatives of different castes. In 1848 she became one of the founders of the Indigenous Library, and in 1851 Fatima opened two schools in Mumbai.

Together with Savitribai Phul, she lived in the house of her brother and like-minded Mian Usman Sheikh, who helped the women in their work. First of all, they sought access to education for children from the Dalit caste - untouchables who make up about a sixth of the population of India and are the most impoverished and outcast members of society. It was in the house of Mian Usman in 1849 that the first school in India for all children, regardless of religion, caste, gender and wealth, was launched.

In 2014, by order of the Ministry of Education, information about the work and achievements of Fatima Sheikh was included in Indian textbooks. On Sunday, January 9, the day of the 191st birthday of the prominent Muslim woman, Google placed information about her on its logo.

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