Oprah Winfrey Announces Closure of South African Girls' School by 2027
The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy of Girls in South Africa will cease operations at the end of 2027, with the Gauteng Department of Education assuming control and a scholarship program expanding to more students.
Oprah Winfrey said the boarding school she founded in 2007 will close its doors in 2027, after more than a decade of educating over 1,000 girls. She added that the Gauteng Department of Education will take over the campus and that the academy will shift its focus to a scholarship program intended to reach a larger number of South African girls.
"The dream was never simply to build a school. 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 said in a statement.
Representatives for Winfrey told reporters that students who cannot complete their studies at the academy will be placed in other top-tier schools, with tuition fully funded by the philanthropist. The transition is planned to ensure continuity of education for current and future students.