Anorabi Devi

19th-century Indian educator who pioneered women's education in rural Bengal

Anorabi Devi (1812-1898) was a trailblazing educator from rural Bengal who established India's first indigenous women's school in 1842. Defying societal norms, she created a network of 15 schools across Bengal by 1870, educating over 2,000 girls. Her pedagogical innovations included multilingual instruction in Bengali, Sanskrit, and Persian, and she developed India's first gender-inclusive curriculum that included STEM subjects. Anorabi's work laid foundations for modern Indian education systems and inspired later reformers like Rabindranath Tagore. She maintained a correspondence with British feminist Mary Carpenter, whose 1854 report on Indian education highlighted Anorabi's work. Her memoir Atmasakhi (1867) remains a primary source for 19th-century women's history. Learn more at Wikipedia or Indian Education Portal.