Preceding the general reform of basic education of 1863 was the concern to improve the education of young women in Manila and the provinces under colonial administration. The education offered in beaterios was deemed insufficient as it focused on religious instruction, literacy and womanly arts. To this end, the services of the Daughters of Charity (Hijas de Caridad) were sought in view of the educational impact that their schools and method had attained in Spain. This paper studies the background of their coming to the Philippines and the educational principles that inspired their schools, exploring particularly how consonant these were with the objectives of the Escuela Municipal de Niñas de Manila and some other schools entrusted to the congregation.