The twin towns of Tirunelveli and Palayamkottai have a storied history of education. Literature and scholarship have long flourished along the banks of the Thamirabarani River, but it was the educational institutions established by Christian missionaries and local Hindu paterfamilias that established a significant legacy. Importantly, the Hindu High School (later MDT Hindu College) was instituted by the Saivaites of Tirunelveli in 1859. Stalwarts of Tamil society like Subramania Bharatiyar, Pudumaipithan, V. O. Chidambaram Pillai, and T.V. Sundaram Iyengar, all had their early schooling or collegiate education at MDT Hindu College.

Meanwhile, the Christian missionaries in Tirunelveli also played an instrumental role in establishing Anglo-Vernacular boys’ schools, like St. John’s High School, Cathedral High School, St. Xavier’s High School, and Schafter High School. They also founded several schools for the girls, including Sarah Tucker High School, Mary Sargent High School, and St. Ignatius’ Convent High School; all these schools were upgraded to higher secondary schools after 1978. Many of these missionaries also built schools all over the smaller villages around Tirunelveli. Sadakathullah Appa College, which was founded in the year 1997, became a steppingstone to higher education for the Muslim communities of Tirunelveli. School or college education in Tirunelveli sees no caste or creed inside the classroom and children of every faith coexist to excel academically.

GD Educational Foundation looks forward to helping the underprivileged and the disadvantaged students of the Tirunelveli community to allow them to realize and succeed in their educational goals.