Launched in August 2024 by President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, the “Back to My Classroom” (BTMC) campaign has emerged as one of the most ambitious social initiatives of his administration. The goal: to bring 250,000 children currently out of school back into classrooms by 2029. The President himself has said that the idea matured as he watched children left to their own devices along the roadside, while others made their way to school.
On August 14, 2026, Boakai convened the very first National Steering Committee of the campaign at the President’s Tea House, located at the Executive Mansion in Monrovia. According to authorities, this meeting did not constitute a relaunch of the program, but rather a progress review aimed at clarifying responsibilities, assessing county-level preparedness, and consolidating funding, as the country transitions from the planning phase to nationwide implementation.
The roadmap sets precise annual targets: 80,000 children reintegrated in 2026 across seven pilot counties, followed by 60,000 in 2027, another 60,000 in 2028, and 50,000 in 2029. The Minister of Education, Dr. Jarso Maley Jallah, emphasized that crossing the school gate is only a first step poverty, lack of administrative documents, geographic remoteness, and disability are among the complex obstacles that keep children out of the system.
It is precisely on this point that the President insisted: “Enrollment is important, but retention is equally so.” He raised the possibility of eventually distinguishing counties that excel in both enrolling and keeping students in school, in order to embed a culture of local accountability.
Jointly led by the Ministries of Education, Health, and Gender, Children and Social Protection, with technical support from UNICEF, the campaign also mobilizes communities, teachers, and county authorities. “These children are part of this country. These children are the future of this country,” President Boakai stressed, summarizing the ambition of a challenge that engages the future of an entire generation of Liberians.
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