Iris was struggling at school and wanted to leave altogether. The Skills for School programme has supported her to stay and thrive in the classroom.
‘I felt like I did not want to come to school anymore. I thought I will stop school because I was not that good in my studies,’ Iris explains. ‘Now, I come to school with happiness and confidence.’
Previously shy and lacking that confidence, twelve-year-old Iris used to find maths and public presentations especially hard, with low grades leading to low self-esteem, sadness and family tension.
Skills for School has helped Iris to transform her perceptions of herself and her capabilities. As a result, she has changed her mind about leaving school, and is now thriving in the classroom, where her confidence, contribution and grades have all improved.
A chance for change
The Skills for School programme, delivered through our partner Junior Achievement (JA) Ghana, launched in 2020. It provides targeted support for students aged 11-18 who are at risk of underachieving – or even dropping out of school altogether.
Run by specially trained teachers as a school-based club, the fourteen-week programme builds core skills, such as communication, reliability and goal-setting, through hands-on activities in small groups. It has so far reached more than 2,800 young people across 18 schools in Ghana.
Iris explains that before taking part in the programme, her school performance was making her miserable, and she felt like a disappointment to her family. She saw little chance of improvement and had few hopes for her future. ‘Before joining Achieve I used to think that I will not become someone better,’ she remembers.
But Iris’s outlook began to change from the moment she joined the programme. The very fact that her teacher put her forward for it made her realise that other people believed in her, even if she did not yet believe in herself.
Skills, confidence and mindset
The programme helped Iris to identify the areas she needed to work on to set herself up for success, and supported her to gradually develop these skills.
‘When I talked to people, I did not have confidence. I was not brave and always looked down on myself, thinking I could not do things. I also had trouble setting and achieving goals,’ Iris recalls.
‘Going through the sessions, I realised that I needed to be bold and believe in myself.’
The programme helped Iris to build her skills and confidence around public speaking and tackling challenges, as well as boosting her capacity to set goals for herself and work towards them, breaking them down into manageable steps.
Iris now has a greater belief in her own ability to speak, learn and improve. By transforming her own mindset, Iris has changed others’ perceptions of her too. One of her proudest moments came when she confidently solved a maths problem on the board in front of all her classmates, shattering her own and others’ belief that she ‘could not do maths.’
Now her friends even come to her for help with their maths homework.