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During the 1790s, Tamil Christians established lot of schools in Tirunelveli. The number of converted Christians increased in the region during the 19th century and the number of schools also increased simultaneously. The educational system of the missionary groups included primary schools, boarding schools, seminaries, industrial schools, orphanages and colleges. The schools, in general, were imparting Christian education to the converts to utilize them as future mission agents. The first boarding school for girls was opened in 1821, but the efforts were marred by the thrust on Christian education.Thomas Munro (1761 � 1827 CE) of the British East India Company established a two-tiered school system of district schools teaching law and sub-district schools teaching vernacular languages in the Madras Presidency. Tirunelveli had four sub-district schools, two teaching Tamil, one each teach Telugu and Persian language.