During the 1790s, Tamil Christians established a number of schools in Tirunelveli. The missionary educational system included primary and boarding schools, seminaries, industrial schools, orphanages and colleges. The first boarding school for girls was opened in 1821, but its efforts were hampered by the emphasis on Christian education. Thomas Munro (1761–1827) of the British East India Company established a two-tier school system: district schools, teaching law, and sub-district schools teaching vernacular languages in the Madras Presidency. Tirunelveli had four sub-district schools: two teaching Tamil and one each for Telugu and Persian.