ABSTRACT
The long-term effect and the success of a mission society depended on whether, and to what extent it was able to create a durable and recognizable network of multipliers and mechanisms of reproduction, which would help the spread of Christian teachings. At the latest with the advent of the Jesuits in the sixteenth century organized Christian missionary work in South India was accompanied by work in the sphere of education. The main goal of educational work gave rise to the second important thrust-area of the mission educational system: the education and care of Christian children who would have, besides religious instruction, classes in reading, writing and arithmetic. The educational contents and goals of the mission schools were now increasingly in competition with colonial education, which was primarily concerned with introducing a Western educational system in order-in the long run-to train an indigenous, Western-oriented elite that would be loyal to the colonial power.
