Question

What did Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain do for the girls?

Answer 1

Hint: Roquiah Sakhawat Hossain was a poet, educator, and social reformer. During the Mughal era, her ancestors worked in the military and judiciary. In Bangladesh, she is known as Begum Rokeya. After her marriage, her name was changed to Roquiah Sakhawat Hossain, and she was referred to as Mrs RS Hossain in literary circles.

Complete answer:
Bengal's Muslim women were backward, ignored, and marginalized during her time. Roquiah realized that the only way for women to be free of their shackles was for them to be trained and economically self-sufficient. As a result, on October 1, 1909, she opened a school for Muslim girls in Bhagalpur, with only five students, and named it Sakhawat Memorial Girls' School after her husband. However, due to family obligations, she was unable to stay in Bhagalpur and decided to relocate to Calcutta.

On March 16, 1911, she founded Sakhawat Memorial Girls' School with eight students in a house at 13, Waliullah Lane in Calcutta. Roquiah's tireless efforts resulted in the school being elevated to Middle English Girls' School in 1917 and High English Girls' School in 1931. Because of the increased number of students and other factors, the school was relocated to various locations.

Roquiah led the school for twenty-four years, overcoming adversity and social challenges to make it the best place for Muslim girls to study. Sakhawat Memorial School used to be a seminal institution for non-Bengali girls. Roquiah worked tirelessly to persuade Muslim Bengali families to send their daughters to school. She went door to door, persuading parents that education was beneficial to girls and promising that purdah would be observed at her school. Middle-class Muslim girls broke the prohibition against leaving the house to study as a result of her tireless efforts. She also arranged for horse-drawn carriages to transport girls to and from school while maintaining purdah.

Note:
- Mahatma Jotiba Phule and Savitribai Phule established India's first girls' school at Bhide Wada in Pune on January 1, 1848.
- Ramabai Ranade was one of India's first women's rights activists and the founder of Seva Sadan, an institution that trained thousands of women in different skills in Mumbai and Pune. She devoted her life to women's empowerment and to make them financially self-sufficient.