The City Montessori School, Lucknow (India) upholds that ‘School must act as a lighthouse of society’, providing leadership, direction and guidance to the students, their parents and the society at large. The four pillars of CMS lighthouse are (i) knowledge (ii) wisdom (iii) spiritual perception and (iv) eloquent speech.

(i) Knowledge: The object of knowledge is to know God which means knowing His spiritual teachings. God is the beginning and the end of all knowledge. We are all created to know God and to love Him. Knowing God means knowing the teachings of God and loving God means obeying the teachings of God. ‘School as Lighthouse of Society’ must prepare a child to know the teachings of God and to obey the teachings of God in his life. Therefore, knowledge of God and adherence to His teachings constitute the core of CMS educational philosophy. A student who has understood the teachings of God will see everything in a new light, enriching his knowledge manifold.

(ii) Wisdom: The ability to make the right decisions and choices in the light of teachings of God is true wisdom. A person should do what is pleasing to God and not that which is pleasing to oneself. The scale to measure as to what is right and what is wrong is the source of God’s teachings as revealed in the sacred scriptures of one’s religion. Bathed in the teachings of God students become wiser to make choices, to choose options, take decisions and to make judgments. The result of this wisdom is reflected in their high performances in the academic as well as co-curricular activities. A large number of students of CMS secure above 90% marks in ISC & ICSE Board Examinations of India every year.

(iii) Spiritual Perception: Education must ensure a balanced development of both the material reality and the spiritual reality. Man, as we see him, is a material being, his perception should be spiritual so that his material actions become useful for society. He must be a spiritually aware human being and for that we need to cultivate the divinity in a man right from his childhood specially through his home and school environment.

(iv) Eloquent speech: This quality is highly important and necessary for any socially useful person today. The power of expression should be lucid, fluent, clear, flawless and bold and should extend to both the written and the spoken words. Only then, will the child be able to share his thoughts and vision and play a role in changing the world for a better tomorrow.

The four building blocks of CMS lighthouse are (i) universal values (ii) global understanding (iii) service to the world and (iv) excellence in all things.

(i) Universal values are values like honesty, sincerity, truthfulness, kindness, compassion and other spiritual values that are common to all the religions. These are essential qualities which all religions emphasize for fulfilment of life and creating a good society.

(ii) Global understanding means developing an international perspective and a global vision so that one becomes a globally aware citizen of the world. Global understanding will lead to global peace and amity in the world.

(iii) Service to the world implies “Do not busy yourself in your own concerns only. Let your thoughts be fixed upon that which will rehabilitate the fortunes of mankind and sanctify the hearts and souls of men.”

(iv) Excellence in all things implies making pursuit of quality and excellence a habit. It also implies that one must cultivate purity of heart, fine manners and humility.

The root cause of all the ills of today’s world is the meaninglessness of education. Human beings have three realities — Material, Human and Divine. For providing meaningful education and in order to make the child a worthy human being, a school must develop ‘all three realities of a child’ giving equal importance to all by giving the (i) material education (ii) human education and (iii) divine education.

(i) Material Education is concerned with the progress and development of body and for its sustenance, its material comfort and ease. This education is common to human beings and animals.

(ii) Human Education signifies civilization and progress, that is to say, administration, charitable works, trades, arts and handicrafts, sciences and great inventions etc. which are the activities essential to man as distinguished from animals.

(iii) Divine Education consists of achieving divine perfections, and this is true education; for in this state, man becomes the focus of Divine blessings. This is the goal of humanity.
Mr Gandhi is of the view that all the three realities of man need a balanced simultaneous development so that the child becomes a balanced human being. For this, along with students, their parents too need education and that school and parents must work together to counter the negative influences of society and build a permanent and solid foundation for his spiritual life.