Education for Girls under British Rule

Government’s Role

• The British government neglected women’s education, even though Wood’s Despatch (1854) recommended support.
• The main initiatives came from Indian reformers, not the colonial state.

Reason for official neglect:

1. British officials saw no immediate administrative use in educating women — they wouldn’t be recruited as clerks or officers.
2. Fear of offending orthodox sections of society.

Pioneers of Girls’ Education

1. Mahatma Jyotiba Phule & Savitribai Phule

• 1 January 1848 – Established India’s first girls’ school at Bhide Wada, Pune.
• Supporters: Jagannath Shankar Seth, Bhau Daji.
• Collaborator: Fatima Sheikh – regarded as India’s first Muslim woman teacher; worked for education of the downtrodden.
• Focused on marginalised communities as well as gender equality.

2. Bethune School (1849)

• Founded as Calcutta Female School by John Elliot Drinkwater Bethune, with funding from Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee.
• Started with 21 girls in Mukherjee’s home.
• 1850: Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar became secretary — encouraged many Hindu families to send daughters to school.
• 1856: Taken over by government; 1862–63 renamed Bethune School.
• 1879: Developed into Bethune College — India’s first women’s college.
• 1883 graduates: Kadambini Ganguly and Chandramukhi Basu — first female graduates in the Indian subcontinent.

3. Hindu Mahila Vidyalaya (1873)

• Founded in Kolkata by Annette Akroyd (British Orientalist).
• Offered girls the same curriculum that boys received — a revolutionary step.

Key Reformist Women Leaders

Begum Sultan Jahan (Bhopal)

• Last Begum of Bhopal (1909–1926).
• Established many girls’ schools in Aligarh.
• Authored Dars-e-Hayat — on girls’ education and parenting.
• Allocated ₹1 lakh education budget for a small princely state.
• Provided grants to colleges in Delhi, Bombay, and Calcutta.

Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain

• Bengali feminist thinker, writer, educator, political activist.
• Founded girls’ schools in Patna and Calcutta.
• Critic of religious orthodoxy across all faiths for subjugating women.
• Notable works:
  1. Sultana’s Dream – early feminist science fiction imagining a women-led society.
  2. Padmarag – depicted struggles of Bengali wives.
  3. Abarodhbasini – criticised extreme purdah.
• 1916: Founded Muslim Women’s Association to promote education & employment.
• 1926: Presided over the Bengal Women’s Education Conference in Kolkata.

Significance

• The spread of women’s education during colonial times was driven more by Indian reformers and women activists than by the British government.
• Women’s education became a central part of the social reform movement, challenging orthodox customs.
• It laid the foundation for women’s participation in public life during the nationalist movement.