When Joyce Opoku started Lucky Child Early Education Centre (then Lucky Child Day Care Centre) in 2007, it was just a small house converted into a day care center. With her passion for education and helping her community, Joyce was committed to providing young children with the strong educational foundation needed before entering primary school. However, the school building was in need of renovations to fully convert the home into a working school. This is when Joyce began the IDP Rising Schools Program (IDPRSP) to receive access to loans and financial literacy and school management training. Through the program, Joyce took out a loan of 2,000 GHS (374 USD) to renovate her school’s infrastructure, including tiling the floors, installing windows, and colorfully painting the building to make it more fun and welcoming.

As of 2019, Lucky Child Early Education Centre is thriving with 120 enrolled students and has expanded to include students up to the KG2 level. The general academic performance has also improved and parents are pleased with the school, choosing to keep their students enrolled each year. Joyce reports that participating in the IDPRSP training has helped her school immensely. She uses what she learned in her daily activities, especially the financial management lessons. As a low-fee private school proprietor, it can be difficult to decide which improvements are most important for the success of the school. Joyce has become skilled at setting priorities and making those hard decisions. For example, after receiving the first loan, she decided to prioritize growing her savings instead of immediately applying for another loan and was able to make additional improvements to the school with her own funds.

Lucky Child Early Education Centre is also one of the many schools that have participated in the Techniques for Effective Teaching (TFET) program. Through TFET, the teachers at Lucky Child were trained in child-centered teaching techniques that promote critical thinking and make learning fun and engaging. Joyce’s favorite TFET module is Learning through Play and finds it particularly helpful when conducting the in-service teacher trainings each year.

The school recently celebrated a milestone – their 10-year anniversary. Joyce was proud to invite former students to the celebration, all of which were accepted to excellent schools. With plans to add a P1 grade level by September of 2019 and then add another level each year after, we are excited to see Lucky Child Early Education Centre continue to provide a safe and conducive learning environment for many more children in the community!