| Abala Bose | |
|---|---|
| Born | 8 April 1864 Barisal |
| Died | 26 August 1951 Kolkata |
| Occupation | Social worker |
| Spouse | Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose |
Abala, Lady Bose (Bengali: অবলা বসু Ôbola Boshu) (April 8, 1864 – August 26, 1951) was a social worker well-known for her efforts in the field of women’s education and her contribution towards the alleviation of the condition of widows.[1]
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Daughter of the renowned Brahmo reformer Durga Mohan Das, sister of S.R.Das and Sarala Roy, and cousin of Chittaranjan Das, and also Chief Justice of India Sudhi Ranjan Das she was born at Barisal on 8 April 1864. She belonged to the famous Das family of Telirbagh, Dhaka, now in Bangladesh. She was married to Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, the renowned scientist, and had occasion to travel abroad with him many times.[1]
She was amongst the early students of Banga Mahila Vidyalaya and Bethune School (established by Bethune), and passed entrance with a scholarship in 1881. As she could not secure admission to Calcutta Medical College, being a woman, she went to Madras (Now Chennai) in 1882 on Bengal government scholarship to study medicine but had to give up because of ill health. She was married in 1887.[1]
She was one of the early feminists, apart from being an educationist. Writing in the Modern Review, a leading English magazine in those days, she argued that women should have a deeper and extended education. ‘not because we may make better matches for our girls… not even that the services of the daughter-in-law may be more valuable in the home of her adoption, but because a woman like a man is first of all a mind, and only in the second place physical and a body.’ It was from her that Kamini Roy, who studied with her in Bethune School, picked up the threads of her feminism.[2] Upon her husband's knighthood in 1916, she became Lady Bose.
She set up the Nari Shiksha Samiti for the spread of women’s education and for providing financial assistance to widows. This organisation had established around 200 schools in rural areas. In order to provide teachers for these schools she set up Vidyasagar Bani Bhaban, Mahila Shilpa Bhaban and Bani Bhaban Training School for young widows. After her husband’s death she donated Rs. 1 lakh to set up the Sister Nivedita Women’s Education Fund, which set up the Adults Primary Education Centre. She was Secretary of Brahmo Balika Shikshalaya from 1910 to 1936. She died on 26 April 1951.[1]
The principal aim of Nari Shiksha Samiti, set up in 1915, was to establish primary schools, prepare suitable text books and open maternity and child welfare centres. In its earlier years it established several schools, including Muralidhar College for girls bur from 1921, it shifted its focus to backward villages.[2]