Oprah backs education in South Africa with second school

Oprah Winfrey opened a second school for South African children Friday in poverty-stricken KwaZulu-Natal province, built with money provided by her Angel Network.

Unlike her Leadership Academy for Girls, whichopened outside Johannesburg in January, this school will be run by the local public education authorities.

About 1,000 boys and girls will attend the Seven Fountains Primary School outside the remote town of Kokstad in eastern KwaZulu-Natal province.

"The Seven Fountains School is an example of what schools in South Africa can become," said Winfrey, dressed casually in a cream top and white pants, at the school's formal dedication.

Winfrey first visited the school in 2002, bringing clothing, books and teacher-training materials.

At that time, the school was on a farm, but it was later relocated to a windowless building with no reliable electricity andrunning waterand only four toilets for its 1,000 children.

The new $1.6-million USschool built by the Angel Network has 25 classrooms, three multipurpose rooms, a library, acomputer centre, a landscaped playground and two sports fields.

"We thought the school you had before was not good enough, so we wanted to build the best school for you," Winfrey told the children.

Among the innovative design elements in the schoolare solar panels and a system that recycles rainwater to help maintain water supply in the drought-prone area.

The Angel Network, backed by the popular talk-show host, has built 59 schools in 12 countries in the developing world.

Winfrey emphasized the importance of education, saying every child should have the opportunity to escape poverty.

"We are here today to celebrate the transformative power of education," she said.

Principal calls Winfrey an 'angel'

Principal Veliswa Mnukwa calledWinfrey an "angel."

"This is the second time you are visiting us, but now it is a very different school Nothing compares with what you have done for us," she said.

Winfrey has been criticized by aid agencies for creating an "elite" private school with her $40-million US Leadership Academy.

ActionAid, a global development group, said Winfrey's money could have been better spent improving the quality of education for more children.

The Leadership Academy has a28-building campus with state-of-the-art classrooms, computer and science labs, a library, a theatre and a wellness centre.

The schoolaims to give a hand-picked group of girls from deprived backgrounds a quality education. It accepted 152 students to start, but eventually will hold 450 girls.