SusannahParish: added new details w/ infobox

2024-06-29T21:26:13Z

added new details w/ infobox

New page

{{Short description|Indian woman journalist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name = P. Yashoda
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| other_names = Yashoda Teacher
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1916|2|12}}
| birth_place = [[Malabar district]], British India
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2009|7|29|1916|2|12}}
| death_place = [[Kannur district]], Kerala
| occupation = Journalist, Teacher, Woman activist
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse(s) = [[Kandalottu Kunhambu]]
| relatives =
}}'''P. Yashoda''' popularly known as '''Yashoda teacher''' was a woman activist, freedom fighter, journalist and teacher from [[Kerala]], India. She is best known as the first woman reporter, first woman journalist and first woman school teacher from Kerala.

==Biography==
Yashoda was born on 12 February 1916, the daughter of Janaki and Dharmadath Payyanadan Govindan at present-day [[Kannur district]], Kerala.<ref name="Kerala Women">{{cite web |title=യശോദ ടീച്ചർ - ആദ്യത്തെ സ്വന്തം ലേഖിക |url=https://www.keralawomen.gov.in/ml/node/764 |website=Kerala Women |publisher=Department of Women and Child Development, Kerala state |access-date=11 March 2022 |language=ml |date=30 March 2021}}</ref> She joined Kalyassery Higher Elementary School as the only woman student in the eighth standard.<ref name="Kerala Women"/> After passing eighth in 1930, in April, she was appointed as an untrained teacher at a school where her uncle Govindan was headmaster.<ref name="Kerala Women"/> She was only 15 years at the time of joining as a teacher. She trained as a teacher during the period 1933–35.<ref name="Kerala Women"/> She completed her high school education and became a schoolteacher at a time when female education rates were very low.<ref name="Womenpoint">{{cite web |title=Womenpoint |url=http://womenpoint.in/index.php/resources/resourcesDetails/114 |website=womenpoint.in}}</ref>

In 1939, 198 teacher certificates were revoked, including Yashoda's.<ref name="Kerala Women"/> If they apologized, they would be taken back. But Yashoda was not ready to apologize.<ref name="Kerala Women"/> She received her Elementary School Living Certificate on 8 March 1942.<ref name="Kerala Women"/> Yashoda attended the National Conference of the All India Women's Conference in [[Sindh]] in December 1943 and the Asiatic Women's Conference in [[Kolkata]] in 1949.<ref name="Kerala Women"/>

Yashoda was at the forefront of bringing women together and teaching them spinning, stitching and weaving.<ref name="Kerala Women"/> Along with this she also conducted literacy classes and awareness classes to woman.<ref name="Kerala Women"/> The women's movement started under the leadership of Yashoda Teacher later took root all over the [[Malabar Coast|Malabar region]].<ref name="Kerala Women"/>

Formerly a schoolteacher, Yashoda was instrumental in the formation of the Teachers' Union in Kerala before Indian independence.<ref name="hindustantimes"/> The Teachers 'Struggle of 1939, led by the Malabar Teachers' Union, marked a turning point in the lives of teachers who demanded that [[Secondary School Leaving Certificate|SSLC]] students be given the opportunity to sit for examinations privately.<ref name="Kerala Women"/>

As a reporter for the pro-left newspaper [[Deshabhimani]], Yashoda had interviewed prisoners sentenced to death at [[Kannur district|Kannur]] Central Jail for participating in the [[Kayyur]] agitation demanding the distribution of land to landless farmers in [[northern Kerala]] during the [[British Raj|British rule]].<ref name="hindustantimes"/> Yashoda Teacher is the only woman who went to see Kayyur comrades in jail.<ref name="Womenpoint"/>

Yashoda Teacher, the first woman reporter, first woman journalist and first woman school teacher from Kerala, was also the first woman organizer of the communist struggle in Kerala.<ref name="Kerala Women"/> Yashoda also acted in several plays at the time, and was also nominated for Best Actress several times.<ref name="Kerala Women"/> Plays in which actors and organizers all were only women became very popular.<ref name="Kerala Women"/>

===Personal life and death===
Yashoda's husband [[Kandalottu Kunhambu]] was a [[Communist Party of India|CPI]] leader and former Kerala state minister.<ref name="hindustantimes">{{cite news |title=Kerala's first woman journalist dead |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/kerala-s-first-woman-journalist-dead/story-0VttHgOTupDkZ7l3KQcRiK.html |work=Hindustan Times |date=27 July 2009 |language=en}}</ref> They were married in 1952. The couple had no children.<ref name="hindustantimes"/> She died at her residence near Kannur on 27 July 2009.<ref name="hindustantimes"/>

==Legacy==
Since 2019, the P Yasoda Women's Media Award has been presented in Yashoda's honor. The award is presented by the P Yashoda Memorial Committee and the Kerala Mahila Sangam Kannur District Committee.<ref name="malabar"/> The award consists of Rs. 10001 and a certificate.<ref name="malabar"/> First award was given to Nileena Atholi.<ref name="malabar">{{cite news |title=പി.യശോദ ടീച്ചര്‍ പ്രഥമ വനിതാ മാധ്യമ പ്രവര്‍ത്തക പുരസ്‌കാരം നിലീന അത്തോളിക്ക് |url=https://malabarinews.com/news/p-yashoda-teacher-award-nileena-atholi/ |work=malabarinews.com}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yashoda, P.}}
[[Category:1916 births]]
[[Category:2009 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian politicians]]
[[Category:Communist Party of India politicians from Kerala]]
[[Category:Indian women journalists]]
[[Category:Indian women activists]]
[[Category:People from Kannur district]]

P. Yashoda - Revision history

SusannahParish: added new details w/ infobox