Indian students than the initiatives of the government. While the East India Company Act of 1813 allotted 100,000 rupees from the government's surplus to be "applied to the revival and improvement of literature, and the encouragement of the learned natives of India, and for the introduction and promotion of a knowledge of the sciences," it did not lead to any coherent provision of public education. According to Dermot Killingley, the surplus mentioned in this Charter Act was “an aspiration, not a budget item,” and even if the money had been provided for, there was uncertainty about how it should be spent. Recurring questions arose over whether to invest on a few advanced institutions or to promote widespread elementary education, what language to use, and particularly whether to support traditional methods of learning in India, which had declined due to the loss of patronage, or to introduce a new system based on Western education. Rammohan Roy contributed to this last debate by writing to the Governor-General in 1823 expressing his opposition to the establishment of a Sanskrit College that would foster traditional learning and advocating for Western scientific education; this effort failed without effect. Missionaries began teaching young women in 1816, but a systematic education policy was not established until 1854. However, Sengupta and Purkayastha point out that even during the 1860s and 1870s, “the project of female education was wholly tied to the purpose of enabling women to better discharge their domestic duties.” Despite the East India Company's initial hostility to missionaries, the colonial government later saw the advantages of their contribution to educating and training the local population. This was especially because, as Killingley noted, “in the innovations of the early nineteenth century, government initiative had less impact than the work of Christian missions, and of individuals … who responded to the demand for literacy, numeracy and related skills created by growing commercial and administrative activity.” In 1800, the Baptist Missionary Society established a centre in Srirampur, West Bengal, from which it ran a network of schools that taught literacy, mathematics, physics, geography and other so-called “useful knowledge.” Other missionary societies followed soon after, working along similar lines. These missionaries, which were largely dependent on local, indigenous teachers and families, and the colonial government, which sometimes supported them with grants, were also cautious about introducing Christian teachings or the Bible. Education was also believed to be necessary in reversing