Situated in Gunfoundry (so-called for the ammunition center built by the Nizam of Hyderabad), the school began on January 1904 with a student-body of 60 taught in the Tamil language, and 50 pupils taught in English. The FMM nuns visited the surrounding homes, pleading with parents not to deny their children the benefits of schooling. At a time when education was believed to be the right of only upper castes and males, the nuns had a difficult time convincing the locals to send their children to school.