Yavatmal: The Akhil Bharatiya Mali Mahasangh (ABMM) on Sunday demanded here that the first school for the girls founded by the social reformer couple Mahatma Phule and his wife Savitribai Phule in Pune in 1848 be declared as a national monument.

Today is the birth anniversary of Savitribai Phule (3 January 1831-10 March 1897), who is considered a pioneer in women's education and emancipation movement.

A delegation led by the state president of ABMM Shankarrao Linge met the district collector Sachindra Pratap Singh in Yavatmal and submitted a memorandum of demand, to be forwarded to the Union Government.

Advocate Rajendra Mahadole, who was a part of the delegation, told reporters that the Phule couple started the
first school for girls in Pune on January 1, 1848 at Bhidewada in Budhwar Peth area.

The school building is now in a dilapidated condition and it should be restored and declared as a national monument, he said.