Babikir Badri

Babiker Bedri
Born	1856 or 1860 Sudan
Died	1954 (aged 94 or 98)
Nationality	Sudanese
Occupation	Warrior/Teacher/Social activist
Known for	Women's education in Sudan

Babikr Bedri (1856–1954) was a Mahdist warrior who later became a social activist and laid the foundations for women's education in the Sudan. (His name is variously transcribed in Latin letters as "Babiker Badri", and so on.) Bedri began with a small school for his own daughters and those of neighbours in Rufaa in 1907. Over time the school moved to the Sudanese capital and formed the basis for today's al-Afhad University for Women.

Bedri was present at the battle of Omdurman, where the Mahdist army was destroyed. After the battle he migrated to Rufaa, a small town in the region of the Blue Nile.

There he founded the first school for girls in Sudan in 1907 and named it “al Ahfad”. Initially, the classes were held at his home, and were attended by nine of his own daughters and eight of his neighbours' young girls. The school was inspected by Currie, the Condominium Director of Education, but he warned Bedri that the responsibility was entirely his, as would be the cost of running such a new establishment. A private donation was made that year by Currie's deputy, John Winter Crowfoot. Later the school began to receive funding from the Condominium authorities.

Babikr Bedri's ideas about girls’ education were strongly opposed by older Sudanese who were suspicious of the idea of sending girls to school; the colonial authorities were also wary of an innovation that might unsettle the wider population. Bedri's ideas about female education combined traditional Islamic devotion to learning while providing secular education and religious instruction for both girls and boys. At that time, the main aim of the schooling was to ensure better nutrition and healthcare, with a view to ensuring healthier children.

In 1943 the school moved from Rufaa to Omdurman, across the Nile from Khartoum, and a companion high school for boys was established.

In 1991 the Al Ahfad girls' school was transformed into a college and then into the University of that name by Yusuf Badri, Babikr Bedri's son.

Babikr Bedri's autobiography My Life (1961) is considered a Sudanese classic. It is an important source on the History of Sudan in the Mahdist era and the subsequent period of British colonization.

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Wikipedia