Madonna scraps plans for Malawi

Pop diva Madonna had pledged to build a school in the poverty-stricken African nation, Malwai. But, the singer has now shelved plans to set up the much hyped all-girls academy in the country.

Pop diva Madonna had pledged to build a school in the poverty-stricken African nation, Malwai. But, the singer has now shelved plans to set up the much hyped all-girls academy in the country.

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The 52-year-old singer, who had promised to build the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls in 2006, has discontinued the project, reported the New York Times online. Her decision comes amid on-going controversy surrounding the financial mismanagement and the dismissal of the foundation’s board of directors.

The pop diva, who adopted six-year-old daughter Mercy and five-year-old son David from the country admits at being frustrated at the development because of the lack of education in the country. “There is a real education crisis in Malawi, 67 per cent of girls don’t go to secondary school. Our team is going to work hard to address this in every way we can,” said Madonna.

The $3.8 million that the pop diva put into the project through her charitable foundation Raising Malawi has not yielded any result yet. Michael Berg, who co-founded the charity with Madonna wrote in an email to the school fund contributors about the unfinished plan. “A thoughtful decision has been made to discontinue plans for the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls, as it was originally conceived,” said Berg.