Oprah Winfrey will close her school for girls near Johannesburg, South Africa. The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls will close at the end of the 2027 school year. Local education leaders will then take control of the school buildings and land. The school now has 281 students. Girls who cannot finish school there will get full scholarships to study at other schools.

Winfrey opened the school in 2007. She started the plan after she met Nelson Mandela, a former president of South Africa, in 2002. The school helps girls from poor families. It cost $40 million to build. More than 1,000 girls have finished their studies there. Many former students now work as doctors, lawyers, engineers, artists and business leaders.

Some people online said the school was closing because of problems with its leaders. Winfrey’s group said this was not true. Winfrey plans to keep helping girls with their education. Her group will pay for girls with very good school results to study at leading schools across South Africa. Education leaders in Gauteng say they will also find a new use for the school site and continue its work.