The Director of "Leadership College," a boarding school in Afghanistan, announced that she and her students along with their families have arrived in a country in Central Africa to continue their educational mission there. Leadership College is the only boarding school for girls in Afghanistan, located in the capital, Kabul. After the Taliban took control of the country, the school's staff, students, and their families fled, like many others who fear the regime's rule. Approximately 250 Afghan female students were enrolled at the school, which allowed them to complete all pre-university education stages and offered a rare and exciting educational experience in Afghanistan.
However, the school administration feared for the safety of the teaching staff and the girls attending the school as the Taliban advanced towards Kabul. They decided on a mass departure and resettlement in another country, at least temporarily, until the political situation in Afghanistan became clearer. The solution was to relocate to Rwanda in Central Africa, where they hoped to benefit from the country's pioneering experience in education.
Afghan journalist Serhad Punjabi, who follows the details of the displacement campaigns affecting Afghans, explained to "Sky News Arabia" the details of the school's collective displacement experience. He said: "Sola School, and its young director Shabana Basij Rasikh, were well-known in civil and diplomatic circles interested in public affairs in Afghanistan. They received moral and logistical support from several global educational and civil institutions, and Sola boarding school for girls was an impressive model for a different Afghanistan, established after 2001."
He added: "As fears grew among Afghan educational and civil sectors with the Taliban's advance towards the capital, these relationships helped the entire circle of the school, including its staff, members, and their families, obtain a resettlement grant that benefits nearly one hundred thousand Afghans. The families of school members were evacuated to Qatar, from where they chose to temporarily settle in Rwanda until they could understand the final fate of the educational institution."
The school's director was an example of "inspirational stories" in Afghanistan over the past years, as she was one of the girls deprived of education during the Taliban's rule over most of Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001. However, she managed with extraordinary determination to complete her university education and rise in the field of educational initiatives, until she reached the position of school director and provided a model for professional education. Basij Rasikh stated that she burned all the administrative and professional archives of the school to prevent the Taliban from accessing the records of the participants and to protect graduates and their families from any harassment due to the school being designated for girls, something that is rejected by the Taliban and its ideology.
Despite the Taliban's promises to grant women rights to work and education, many Afghans remain skeptical, especially with the movement's request for working women to "stay home temporarily."
### Rwanda Experience
The Ministry of Education in Rwanda announced its welcome to the Afghan school along with its staff and students. The country's education minister stated: "Welcome to our brothers from Afghanistan, members of the closed Sola girls' school, and Rwandans are among the most knowledgeable people in the world about displacement and asylum."
Rwanda is one of the world's most successful models for overcoming the difficult phase of civil war. Following the brutal events between the country's tribes, which resulted in hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths, Rwanda managed to achieve internal reconciliation and reach high levels of economic and humanitarian development.
The Afghan school's director mentioned that they draw inspiration from the Rwandan experience, emphasizing that their stay there is only temporary. She said: "Today in Rwanda, we are resettling Sola, but this resettlement is not permanent. One semester abroad is exactly what we plan for, and when conditions on the ground allow, we hope to return to our homeland in Afghanistan."
The boarding school was established in 2008, starting with four students in a rented house, and it grew to include 250 students, supervised by more than 30 staff members. The school included students from various regions of Afghanistan.
