Oprah’s school in South Africa achieves 100% university entrance pass rate again

The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls (OWLAG) in South Africa keeps on excelling in several ways.

Carrying on the mantle, the Class of 2019 shattered their 2018 record when the academy achieved a 100% university entrance pass rate with more distinctions than the previous year. This was confirmed in a statement.

“59 OWLAG students wrote the Independent Examinations Board (IEB) National Senior Certificate examinations and achieved 197 distinctions in total, 46 more distinctions as compared to last year. There were also many who achieved in the 70% range,” the statement read.

Three students performed exceptionally well, achieving six distinctions. Other notable feats also included 28 out of 30 students achieving distinctions in Mathematical Literacy, as well as, 24 out of 24 distinctions in IsiZulu. 58 out of 59 students also received distinctions in Life Orientation.

“We are extremely proud of all our girls. Many, if not all of them, overcame significant challenges over the last five years and have come up on top,” the statement also read. “They not only leave academically successful, but they also leave resilient, courageous and tenacious. We wish them well for their future.”

Gugu Ndebele, who is the academy’s Executive Director, also shared the good news on Twitter with a photo of founder and billionaire media mogul Oprah Winfrey and the graduates.

Winfrey opened the academy in 2007. The independent boarding school provides “world-class education to previously disadvantaged girls in South Africa from Grade 8 to Grade 12.”

The idea behind setting up the school, according to Winfrey, was largely influenced by former South African president and anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela.

“As most of you know this school was my idea of a gift, not just to South Africa but in particular to Madiba,” she said on the academy’s website.

“During my first visit to Nelson Mandela’s home, back in 2002, I pledged to build a school for girls in South Africa because he and I both discussed and agreed that education was a way to end poverty in the nation of South Africa.”