Oprah to close her school for girls in South Africa

What the report says

Nile Post, carrying a BBC report, says Oprah Winfrey plans to close the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa at the end of the 2027 academic year. The boarding school, located in Henley-on-Klip south of Johannesburg, was opened in 2007 after Winfrey’s 2002 meeting with Nelson Mandela and was designed to serve academically promising girls from underprivileged backgrounds.

According to the report, the campus will be transferred to local education authorities under the original arrangement. The academy currently has 281 students, and those who have not completed their studies by the closure date are expected to receive full scholarships to continue elsewhere. More than 1,000 students have graduated since the school’s first class completed in 2012.

The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy Foundation said Winfrey’s education work in South Africa will continue through a scholarship programme for talented girls to attend leading schools around the country. A public relations consultant for the foundation also rejected online speculation that the closure was linked to mismanagement. Gauteng’s education department said it intends to protect and build on the academy’s legacy, though the future use of the campus has not been specified.

The school has long attracted attention because of its scale and cost, reportedly about $40 million, with critics questioning whether the investment could have reached more pupils through a different model. It also faced controversy soon after opening when a former staff member was accused of abuse and later cleared. The planned closure marks a shift from a single flagship campus to a wider scholarship-based approach.