JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Oprah Winfrey says she will close the school for underprivileged girls she set up in South Africa two decades ago at the end of next year.
Winfrey opened the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in 2007 after being inspired by conversations with former South African President Nelson Mandela about the transformative power of educating girls. He was among the guests at the school's opening ceremony.
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.
"The dream was never simply to build a school," Winfrey said in a statement issued by the academy on Wednesday. "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."
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.
#winfrey
Winfrey opened the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in 2007 after being inspired by conversations with former South African President Nelson Mandela about the transformative power of educating girls. He was among the guests at the school's opening ceremony.
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.
"The dream was never simply to build a school," Winfrey said in a statement issued by the academy on Wednesday. "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."
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.
#winfrey
3 months ago
