Former chat show host Oprah Winfrey will close the South African school for underprivileged girls she established two decades ago at the end of next year.
Winfrey launched The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in 2007 following discussions with Nelson Mandela, who emphasized the transformative power of educating young women. Mandela was among guests at the school’s opening ceremony.
While Winfrey’s charitable foundation funded and managed the institution, an initial agreement stipulated the academy’s campus near Johannesburg would eventually transfer to the provincial education department.
“The dream was never simply to build a school,” Winfrey said in an academy press release on Wednesday. “It was to invest in the limitless potential of young women. That mission doesn’t end with one campus. It continues in every girl whose future can be transformed through education.”
Winfrey’s commitment to educating South African girls will continue through an expanded national scholarship program, supporting academically talented girls at leading schools across the country.
Over 500 girls have graduated from the academy, with many attending top universities in South Africa, the United States, and Europe, according to the Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation.
The 52-acre campus, boasting 21 classrooms, six science and computer laboratories, a 10,000-volume library, and a 600-seat theater, will be taken over by the Gauteng provincial government. The government has not yet disclosed its future plans for the property.
Gauteng Provincial Minister for Education Lebogang Maile assured that all currently enrolled students would complete their education with uninterrupted financial support.
The academy drew international attention shortly after its 2007 opening when several students accused a dormitory matron of physical and sexual abuse.
Winfrey traveled to South Africa, met with students and parents, publicly apologized, and commissioned an independent investigation. The matron was acquitted of criminal charges in 2010.