during the british raj, many reformers such as ram mohan roy, ishwar chandra vidyasagar and jyotirao phule fought for the betterment of women. peary charan sarkar, a former student of hindu college, calcutta and a member of "young bengal", set up the first free school for girls in india in 1847 in barasat, a suburb of calcutta (later the school was named kalikrishna girls' high school).