The contributions made by the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI), the first indigenous Catholic Congregation of India, in the educational field of Kerala were pioneering and revolutionary. Blessed Kuriakose Elias Chavara, the founder of the CMI Congregation, founded the first Catholic School of Kerala at Mannanam in1846. All the other CMI Monasteries also followed that movement. In the year 1864, Blessed Chavara, in his capacity as the Vicar General of the Syro-Malabar Church, ordered all the parishes to start schools adjacent to them. This historic order triggered the emergence of a galaxy of educational institutions all over the State. It also became the basis of the socio-economic development of the whole State.