Media mogul Oprah Winfrey is shifting her investment in girls’ education in South Africa from operating a single school to funding scholarships for learners accepted into leading schools across the country.
The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls (OWLAG) announced that its Henley-on-Klip campus in Gauteng will close after the 2027 academic year and be handed over to the Gauteng Department of Education in line with the original partnership agreement.
The academy said all learners currently enrolled will complete their education without disruption and will continue to receive academic, financial and personal support until they graduate.
Since opening its doors in 2007, the academy has admitted more than 1,000 pupils, many of whom have gone on to pursue higher education and careers in a wide range of professions.
According to the academy, a 2024 study found that 99% of surveyed graduates continued to higher education, with alumnae now working as doctors, educators, engineers, entrepreneurs, artists, scientists and business leaders.
The institution said it would continue supporting its alumnae through mentorship, leadership development and higher education initiatives during and after the transition.
Winfrey said the academy had fulfilled its original vision of demonstrating what could be achieved when academically gifted girls were given access to world-class educational opportunities.
“The dream was never simply to build a school. It was to invest in the limitless potential of young women,” she said.
“That mission doesn’t end with one campus. It continues in every girl whose future can be transformed through education. I’m excited that this next chapter will allow us to reach even more young women across South Africa.”
The academy said the new scholarship programme would enable it to support a greater number of academically talented girls by helping them attend leading schools throughout the country, rather than concentrating its resources on a single campus.
The handover marks the end of a two-decade chapter for the school, which opened in 2007 to provide high-quality education and leadership development for academically gifted girls from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The academy said the transition would not affect current learners, who would remain fully supported until they complete their studies, while its broader mission of empowering young women through education would continue under the expanded scholarship model.
