When Oprah Winfrey opened a school for girls in South Africa in 2007, she poured hundreds of millions of dollars into a single campus. Nearly two decades later, she is betting that the best way to help many more girls is to let that campus go.
The media mogul announced that the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, nestled in the Gauteng province, will graduate its final classes at the end of 2027. The campus itself will be handed over to the provincial government, which plans to keep it running as a school for local families. But Winfrey's real ambition stretches far beyond one building. She is shifting toward a scholarship program that supporters say will double the number of girls who can access quality education across South Africa.
"The dream was never simply to build a school. It was to invest in the limitless potential of young women," Winfrey told PEOPLE Magazine.
The academy has already transformed more than 1,000 lives since it opened its doors. Girls from poor and underserved communities arrived as students and left as graduates who went on to study at universities in South Africa and abroad. Many now work as doctors, engineers, lawyers and business leaders. A recent study cited by PEOPLE Magazine found that nearly every graduate surveyed pursued higher education, and most said their schooling had lifted not only their own lives but also the lives of their families and neighbors.
The road was not always smooth. In its early years, the academy faced serious allegations of abuse involving a former staff member, who was later acquitted. Despite this setback, the school grew into one of South Africa's most respected institutions for educating girls from vulnerable backgrounds.
Winfrey has described the school as her greatest legacy. "This school is my greatest legacy. These girls are my deepest, greatest joy," she said in an earlier interview.
Students who are still enrolled will finish their studies at top schools across South Africa, with Winfrey covering all tuition costs until they graduate. Meanwhile, the new scholarship model is designed to reach far more young women than any single campus ever could. A representative for Winfrey told PEOPLE Magazine that the shift means "overall, there will be double the amount of girls who will have access to education through this model."
For Winfrey, this is not an ending but an expansion. "My mission doesn't end with one campus. It continues in every girl whose future can be transformed through education," she said. "I'm excited that this next chapter will allow us to reach even more young women across South Africa and continue the promise that began more than 20 years ago."