New Delhi, Aug. 18 -- As a child, Ndeye Awa Diop was so shy she couldn't look people in the eye.

Raised in rural Senegal, she learned to embrace what was traditionally expected of girls across the predominately Muslim West African nation. They should be seen but not heard. They should obey their elders.

But her life turned upside down when as a 12-year-old she was accepted into the country's first elite boarding school for girls, on Goree Island off Dakar, the capital.

"So, here I am, coming here completely shy. I didn't even dare raise my hand in class," said Diop. She was homesick, crying. Over the years, the sisterhood of classmates helped. Now she is 19 and president of the student council, and about to graduate.

"I learned to be ...