PUNE: To mark the historic day when social reformers Jyotirao Phule and Savitribai Phule had started the first girls' school in Bhide Wada, Pune on January 1, Mali Mahasangh will take out a rally from and to Bhide Wada. The march will start at 10 am on Tuesday (January 1).
The trailblazer couple had first started the girls' school to empower and educate girls on January 1, 1848. Like every year, the organisation will celebrate and as a gesture of tribute calling it as, 'Phule Dampati Sanman Diwas' (Honour day for Phule couple) and conduct a rally. It will start from Bhide Wada followed to Dagdusheth Halwai Ganpati Mandir, Shivaji Road, Mandai Chowk, Maharana Pratap Road and end at Bhide Wada.
“Members from Mali community, promoters of Phule's ideology, social activists, those who share similar ideology from across the state, will participate in the rally. People from Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and other states will also join us,” said President of Mali Mahasangh, Avinash Thakare.
Guardian Minister Girish Bapat and State Minister of Social Justice Dilip Kamble will inaugurate the rally. Among the eminent personalities of the city, Mayor Mukta Tilak and others will also be present.
“Through this rally, we would also like to draw the attention towards the dilapidated state of the school, which is a historic site and contains a lot importance in shaping Pune's history. Our objective is to pay tribute to Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule and create social awareness about India's first girls' school,” said Thakare.
IMPORTANCE OF THE WADA
- The Phule couple fought against the caste system, and for reforms in Hindu family life and later founded the Satyashodhak Samaj.
- They launched the first school for girls in Bhidewada in 1848, with Savitribai as its first teacher.
