Plans Go Ahead for Madonna's African School

MADONNA has started work on her all-girls school in Malawi, Africa - she has hired four of the country's most prominent citizens to oversee the "multi-million dollar" project.

The pop superstar announced earlier this year (08) she planned to build the educational establishment in Malawi, from where she adopted David Banda in 2006.

She told America's Elle magazine, "I'm buying land and getting permission to build a girl's school. The women will play a big role in the future and rebirth of Malawi."

Now the 4 Minutes star has set her plans in motion by hiring project managers to run the development, which will be on a similar scale to the $40 million (GBP20 million) South African school built by U.S. chatshow host Oprah Winfrey in 2006.

Madonna's lawyer Alan Chinula says, "A task force of four prominent Malawians has already been formed to head the project which will be on the scale of what Oprah Winfrey has in South Africa.

"It is a multi-million dollar project and we will get the real costs in the next two weeks."

The star's plans to build a school are reportedly part of her bid to improve her and husband Guy Richie's relationship with the country, after their adoption of David Banda caused controversy amid claims they had side-stepped Malawi's official adoption process.