Moral and academic education fosters life of service

NAKUʻALOFA, Tonga — Education, when understood simply as the amassing of information, falls short of helping young people reveal what is noblest within them: those moral and spiritual qualities that give knowledge its direction and its purpose. Over the past three decades, Ocean of Light International School, a Bahá’í-inspired educational institution, has been exploring how the cultivation of moral qualities and academic learning can be woven into a single educational endeavor. This was among the themes at the heart of a recent gathering of government officials, school administrators, teachers, and students and families marking the school’s 30th anniversary.

“We have striven over these years to create a school where knowledge acquisition is guided by moral and spiritual principles and learning is directed toward service to humanity,” said Taʻhirih Fifita Hokafonu, director of the school, during her address. Understood this way, she suggested, students come to see their efforts throughout their education as a means by which to contribute to the life of their families and communities.

Moʻale ʻOtunuku, Tonga’s Minister for Education and Training, expressed his appreciation for the school’s efforts, stating that his department alongside Ocean of Light have been “ensuring that the students are prepared not only for examinations but for life. They are equipped with knowledge, values, and skills to serve their families, their communities, and the nation.” Dr. ʻOtunuku spoke warmly of the Ministry’s long-standing relationship with the school, a collaboration he stated had “helped strengthen Tonga’s education system” as a whole.

Dr. ʻOtunuku went on to describe the holistic approach to education that Ocean of Light has taken: “Alongside rigorous academic instruction, the school emphasizes moral and spiritual education.” He drew on a passage from the writings of Bahá’u’lláh about knowledge being as wings to the human spirit, allowing it to soar. Reflecting on these words, Dr. ʻOtunuku spoke of education as a force that “enables us to rise beyond limitations and see further than before.”

Many of the speakers at the gathering highlighted the principle of the harmony of science and religion as central to the school’s ethos. Far from standing in opposition, science and religion are understood as two complementary systems of knowledge that, together, help illuminate reality and guide individual and collective progress. Through the application of that principle, young students are encouraged to look beneath the surface of the ideas, technologies, and social forces they encounter, reflecting not only on how things function, but also on the values and purposes that should shape their use. In this way, young people begin to consider how knowledge can contribute to both their own lives and the well-being of their communities.

Glimpses of this orientation can be seen within the school itself. Former student Mona Taumoefolau, speaking on behalf of her fellow graduates, recalled being one of nine students in the inaugural class of 1996. “We all remember, as alumni, the importance of unity and being able to work together as a team,” she said.

From the early beginnings of the school, she reflected, the competitive habits so often assumed in academic settings had given way to a culture of mutual support. Students learned to see a classmate’s progress as inseparable from their own. That ethos gradually attracted more people to the school. The student body now numbers more than 580, from preschool through high school—an expansion that unfolded in part because parents, moved by what they saw taking shape, asked that the school grow to include a high school.

The spirit of shared endeavor and encouragement, Ms. Hokafonu suggested, is not held by students alone. “This element of being called to our higher self, to our noble being, I feel is most important as a student or as a teacher,” she said.

“When I channel the sense of service toward humanity in my immediate environment,” continued Ms. Hokafonu, “I am further encouraged to serve my colleagues, students, and the wider school community.” Educator and student, in her account, are walking the same path.

For the students themselves, the school’s foundational principles resonate with their own aspirations. “Because we are taught about unity in diversity, I see that even though we are from different backgrounds, we are all one thing, part of one human family,” said Christine, a high school student.

Pua Tuaimeiʻuta, a teacher at the school, expressed a hope held in common across the staff: that the young people leaving the school’s gates “will become a light everywhere they go.”