Oprah Is Closing Her Girls' School in South Africa

Oprah Winfrey's high-profile South African boarding school is getting ready to close its doors after nearly two decades. The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, opened in 2007 outside Johannesburg for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, will shut after the 2027 school year, reports the BBC. Current students who won't finish by then will get full scholarships to other schools. Winfrey and her education foundation will instead shift focus to a scholarship program for girls throughout the nation.

"The dream was never simply to build a school," Winfrey, 72, said in a statement, per People. "It was to invest in the limitless potential of young women. That mission doesn't end with one campus." The BBC notes that the school has courted controversy, with critics focusing in particular on the "lavish campus" and lodging allegations of mismanagement. But Winfrey's foundation counters by pointing to the general success of its graduates. The school currently has about 280 students.