Oprah Winfrey has announced that she will close the school for underprivileged girls she set up in South Africa two decades ago at the end of next year. The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls was opened in 2007 after Winfrey was inspired by conversations with former South African President Nelson Mandela about the transformative power of educating girls.
Continued Commitment to Education
Winfrey’s charitable foundation ran and funded the school, but it was always part of the agreement that the academy campus near Johannesburg be ultimately handed over to the provincial education department. The academy said Winfrey’s commitment to educating South African girls would continue through an expanded national scholarship program supporting academically talented girls at leading schools across the country.
More than 500 girls have graduated from the academy and some have attended top universities in South Africa, the United States, and Europe, according to the Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation. The Gauteng provincial government will take over the 52-acre academy campus, which has 21 classrooms, six science and computer laboratories, a 10,000-volume library, and a 600-seat theater.
Original reporting: NBC Connecticut — read the source article.
