Each day, before Luminos students in Ghana arrive in class, Gifty opens her Luminos teacher’s guide to review the day’s lesson plan. After welcoming each child and taking attendance, Gifty leads a warm-up by writing letters on the chalkboard and turning the classroom into a game show of sorts, with students eagerly identifying letter sounds. This is followed by a dive into the day’s phonics lesson, where children blend sounds into words and read sentences. The teacher’s guide suggests activities that transform these lessons into joyful learning, like “Phonics Bingo” or “Find the Letter,” ensuring that learning is fun and engaging.

Luminos develops comprehensive teacher’s guides, student books, and other teaching and learning materials, collectively spanning thousands of pages, to ensure that our students progressively build their foundational knowledge throughout the school year. In our one-year program, there is not a day to waste.

By the end of the school year, Gifty sees a shift in children’s sense of identity and self-belief, too.

“The fact that they are able to read and write imparts a lot of confidence in them to express themselves.”

Luminos teachers like Gifty are profoundly important to the Luminos program, building self-belief among children, helping to ensure that they can succeed within our program, and even more importantly, when they advance into government schools and beyond.

“The Luminos program helped my dream come true: helping out-of-school children,” says Gifty.