CONTRIBUTIONS OF CARMELITES OF MARY IMMACULATE CONGREGATION TO EDUCATION IN KERALA: 1831-2008

Abstract

Education is considered as the key to modernization and a catalyst to the political and economic development of a society. If Kerala can stand comfortably on the frontline among the Indian States in education, it is mainly owing to the initiatives that Christian communities have daringly taken in the educational sector. The Catholic missionaries who first landed in Kerala were more interested in the propagation of their faith. The Portuguese and the Dutch made substantial contributions to education and learning in Kerala. The Protestant missionaries who followed then took a keen interest in the spread of Western education. The activities of the Christian missionaries for the cause of education, particularly in the Travancore-Cochin region are praiseworthy. The results achieved by Christian missionaries attracted also non-Christian organizations into the field.