Gandhiji's son Manilal was regarded as one of the first scholars that Phoenix produced. Gandhiji wrote to his teenage son ‘Our mission is to elevate Phoenix; for through it we can find our soul and serve our country'.

Education was about training oneself spiritually and morally so that one could take on the needs of society and work to improve it. The school curriculum at Phoenix represented a rejection of colonial education, which taught black people they were inferior.

The young students at Phoenix were taught to have pride in their heritage and culture and history. Character building was the most important part of education. Children were taught skills both in handwork as well as in learning.

Their education was combined with practical details of survival skills so that every student had the ability to do those tasks essential for life such as cleaning, cooking, mending, carpentry, compost making and so on. Their training was not to fulfill a goal of individual enrichment but to be educated to serve others.