The five teenage students from Gambia who were refused visas by the United States in April have now been granted visas after attending a second interview.
The students are due to compete in an international robotics competition in Washington this month.
The Associated Press reported that the students were disheartened by the earlier rejection with their leader Mucktarr MY Darboe describing it as “disappointing and unfair.”
But on Thursday the US granted the students visas for their trip. The leader of the team of students, Mucktarr Darboe was however denied visa because government officials were not being granted visas currently.
Mucktarr Darboe who is an education and science ministry director, said the students will pick their visas on Monday.
The Gambian teens have built a ball sorting machine which provides solutions for separating contaminates from water. Their work has already been shipped to the United States for the competition.
The annual robotics competition organized by FIRST Global is to encourage the learning of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, or STEM, around the world.
This year’s competition will take place from July 16-18.
Source: Africafeeds.com
