Oprah Winfrey will close the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls after the 2027 academic year, ending the residential school model she launched nearly two decades ago and replacing it with an expanded scholarship program expected to serve more young women across South Africa, People reports.
The academy will graduate its final two classes before the Gauteng provincial government assumes responsibility for operating the campus as a public school. Students who have not completed their education by the transition will attend other top-tier schools, with their tuition fully funded by Winfrey through graduation, a spokesperson for the media mogul said.
“The dream was never simply to build a school. It was to invest in the limitless potential of young women,” Winfrey said in a statement announcing the transition.
She added that while the academy’s current chapter is coming to a close, its mission will continue through a broader effort to expand access to education.
The scholarship program will begin after the
academy’s current students graduate. According to Winfrey’s spokesperson, the new model is expected to provide educational opportunities for roughly twice as many girls as the academy currently serves.Winfrey opened the academy in 2007 to provide educational opportunities for academically gifted girls from underserved communities across South Africa. Since then, more than 1,000 students have graduated from the institution.
The school faced widespread attention shortly after opening when a former staff member was accused of abusing students. The employee was later acquitted, and the academy continued serving young women while building a track record of academic achievement and leadership development.
Over the years, Winfrey has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the school. According to a study cited by the academy, nearly all surveyed graduates went on to pursue higher education and said their education had a positive impact on their families and future careers.
Winfrey said the decision reflects a desire to expand the reach of her education initiative beyond a single campus and invest in even more students across the country.
“This school is my greatest legacy,” she told People magazine in 2019. “These girls are my deepest, greatest joy.”
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