Begum Badar un nissa Akhtar

Begum Badar un Nissa Akhtar (1894 -1956; Midnapore) was an Indian social reformer and educator from Cuttack, Odisha. She is known for challenging the stringent and orthodox societal norms and for encouraging and enabling Muslim girls to receive formal and skill based education from behind the purdah back in the early 20th century. Begum herself was formally educated and hence she took up a job as a teacher in Cuttack to educate young girls. She worked to promote female education and to abolish gender discrimination and gender injustice in the field of education. She is regarded as one among the first female teachers and educationists of modern British Odisha. The Badar un nissa Assembly hall at Sayeed Seminary is named after her.