Today I’m making the announcement I look forward to all year: SOLA’s new admissions season is underway.

2026 admissions opened on Monday, March 23. Our application is available here on our website, and students can complete their application in English, Dari, or Pashto. Only one application per student, please. The final day to apply will be June 15.

Last year, as you know, our admissions season shattered all records. In 2025 we received more than 5,300 applications from Afghan girls worldwide. We could admit only 53 girls. These girls are traveling to Rwanda on a rolling basis with chaperones from the UN’s International Organization for Migration, and I could not be prouder of this enduring partnership between SOLA and IOM.

SOLA can only accept applications from Afghan girls who are under the age of 18. We simply can’t bring every girl to SOLA who wants to come – but what we can do is bring SOLA to you. That’s why we’ve created our SOLAx online program: more than 33,000 students are studying with us, and it’s completely free. We provide a full 7th and 8th grade curriculum, and we offer STEM courses on the 9th grade level with more grades coming soon. I encourage students of all ages to visit our SOLAx website, look at what we do, and join us. We built SOLAx for you.

March 23 is a day of deep meaning. March 23 marks four years since girls in Afghanistan had the doors of schools closed in their faces. Every Afghan remembers that day, and with SOLA in Rwanda and online with SOLAx, we continue our mission to educate Afghan girls, the generation of women leaders who’ll bring peace to Afghanistan.

We don’t look away. We never will.

-Shabana