Oprah Winfrey announced that her Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa will close at the end of next year, after operating for two decades. The school, founded in 2007, will transfer its 52-acre campus near Johannesburg to the Gauteng provincial education department.
Winfrey was inspired to establish the school after conversations with former South African President Nelson Mandela about the impact of educating girls. Mandela attended the school's opening ceremony in 2007. The academy has served underprivileged girls, with more than 500 graduates attending universities in South Africa, the United States, and Europe, according to the Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation.
The closure is part of an agreement to eventually hand the campus over to the provincial government. The facility includes 21 classrooms, six science and computer laboratories, a library with 10,000 volumes, and a 600-seat theater. The Gauteng provincial government has stated that current students will be able to complete their education with continued financial support.
"The dream was never simply to build a school," Winfrey said in a statement. "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 education in South Africa will continue through an expanded national scholarship program aimed at supporting academically talented girls at leading schools across the country.
Shortly after its opening, the academy faced international attention when several students accused a dormitory matron of abuse. Winfrey traveled to South Africa to address the situation, issued a public apology, and commissioned an independent investigation. The matron was later acquitted of criminal charges in 2010.