Maria Stenkula

Maria Helena Stenkula (22 July 1842 – 8 February 1932) was a Swedish reform pedagogue and pioneer on women's education.

In 1874, she and her fellow student Elin Lunnerquist co-founded a girls' school in Malmö, Maria Stenkulas skola (in 1883 named Fröken Maria Stenkulas högre elementarskola för flickor, and in 1884 Malmö högre läroverk för flickor).

[2] Maria Stenkula was inspired by the progressive ideas of the time, in which females should be given a serious education to enable them to be useful to society as professionals, which had been the focus in the Girls' School Committee of 1866 (Flickskolekommittén 1866) .

While this is in fact not literary true, as Caroline Kléens skola managed the first girls' school of note in Malmö between 1850 and 1870 and Fru Elise Mayers högre läroverk för flickor the second in 1857-1888, her school was nevertheless a local pioneer establishment and known and respected for its innovations.

In 1899, Stenkula resigned from her position and left Malmö for Örkelljunga in Skåne, where she founded and managed a small school from 1900 until 1917.