The team will now go to Washington DC and show off their invention.

The reasons for the initial rejections are unclear.

Gambia is a Muslim majority country but it is not on the US’s six-country travel ban, which was introduced by President Donald Trump.

One of the participants, Fatoumata Ceesay, 17, told BBC Newsday, the team was pleased to be able to travel.

“We are excited and happy, but also disheartened, because we are not going with our mentor because he is a government official,” she said.

Mucktarr Darboe is a director at the ministry of higher education, and the US has a ban on granting visas to employees of the Gambian government after a deportation row last year.

Earlier this week, an all-girl team of roboticists from Afghanistan were denied US visas to travel to the same competition.

The Gambian robot has been devised to clean contaminated rivers.

It was designed for the First Global competition, which has seen teams from 164 countries compete in a series of robotic games.

The culminating three-day US event starts on 16 July.

The non-profit organisation aims to promote Stem subjects (science, technology, engineering, and maths).

“I hope to come back with knowledge and inspiration to give young Gambians, especially the girls,” said Ms Ceesay.

She said many people her age aspired to careers in medicine and “engineering is lagging behind”. She hopes success stories like that of her team will highlight Gambia’s potential to innovate.

Neither Afghanistan nor Gambia is part of the US’s so-called travel ban, which affects people from Syria, Sudan, Iran, Somalia, Libya and Yemen.

–

Source: BBC

The post US lifts visa restrictions on Gambian robotics students appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Dr. Samuel Boateng, Head of Oil and Gas Department at the All Nations University College (ANUC), said that was the way forward to lift the people out of poverty.

He was speaking at this year’s ‘world space week’ celebration held in Koforidua in the Eastern Region.

The programme was jointly organized by the Electronics and Communications Department of the University’s Institute of Engineering and Technology, Institute of Electricals and Engineering, National Society of Black Engineers and Society of Petroleum Engineers.

“African space festival” was the theme chosen for the event and the goal was to highlight the vital role of technology to socio-economic development.

It brought together students from various Senior High Schools across the Eastern Region.
Dr. Boateng said it was important to encourage and motivate Ghanaian students to study science, technology, and mathematics.

He indicated that there should not be any time to waste and that Africa needed to step up its efforts to catch up with the rest of the world.

Mr. Dickson Amakye, the Head of the Electronics and Communications Department, expressed optimism that the celebration would ignite the passion of the youth for science and technology education.
He called for the nation to develop an electrical and electronics industrialization plan to speed up its technological advancement.

–

Source: GNA

The post Governments urged to prioritize research and technology appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.