Tabassum Mansoor

Tabassum Mansoor was born in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh and obtained a Bachelors of Education (B. Ed) from Aligarh Muslim University. Tabassum has been working for over 30 years in the field of primary education and social welfare in Benghazi, Libya. She is the Managing Director and Principal of Indian International School, Benghazi.

In 2011, amid the civil war against Colonel Gaddafi, Tabassum Mansoor was given a critical responsibility by the Indian Embassy in Tripoli of evacuating 3,000 Indians stranded in Benghazi and other parts of eastern Libya. The mission was called Operation Safe Homecoming. This operation was challenging because the situation in Libya was volatile, and in many regions communication services were disrupted. The communication infrastructure, especially in the rebel-controlled areas had collapsed, rendering phone and internet services unavailable. Tabassum mobilized her school buses all across the city and successfully managed to assemble Indians from different parts of Libya in her school and coordinated their safe transfer from Benghazi, Libya to Alexandria, Egypt via MV Scotia Prince Ship. They were then flown home by a special Air India flight from Alexandria.

In 2020, she played an instrumental role in saving seven Indian nationals who were abducted by Libyan militants, and managed their release through back-channel diplomacy. Despite closed borders amid the ongoing crisis in Libya, all seven Indians were sent back on a special UN flight. Outstanding Women in Social Work by Ficci-Flo. Principal of the Year Award by Ministry of Education (Recognition for her long-standing commitment to education amid difficult circumstances came from the Libyan authorities when she was inducted as a member of the National Education Council of Libya).