State House, Freetown, Tuesday 13 February 2024 – His Excellency President Dr Julius Maada Bio has received the Commissioner of the National Commission for Children, Mrs. Joyce Tejan Kella, and members of the Sierra Leone Robotics Team, who returned with laurels after a successful participation in the FIRST global robotics challenge in Singapore.

She thanked the President for his support and encouragement to the team and reflected on the events that took place in October 2023, saying that they were back to present him with their report and certificates.

The FIRST Robotics Competition was a challenge for high school students to build industrial-size robots and play a field game with other teams.

A member of Team Robotics Sierra Leone, Valdie Valcarcel, revealed that they competed with over 190 countries. He added that he was pleased to report to the President that their participation would not have been possible without the support of the government.

“His Excellency, even though we did not bring home the gold medal, Team Sierra Leone made history in Singapore by achieving a groundbreaking feat in the competition and securing the 50th position out of 191 countries. We led 141 countries and stood in 6th place in Africa.

“Being a developing nation, competing against teams from developed countries and tech giants around the world, we are very proud to secure that position. We are even happy that we ranked higher than many big countries like the USA, UK, Italy, and even the host country, Singapore.

“His Excellency, we are deeply grateful for your continuous encouragement and belief in the children of Sierra Leone as the future of this great nation. We promised to always do our utmost to put our beloved country on the global stage with every opportunity we get,” he assured.

President Julius Maada Bio congratulated and welcomed the children from their international competition, reiterating that even though they did not come back with gold, it was obvious the nation was making progress. He emphasised that that was the most important thing for the government, the nation, and its people.

He acknowledged the difficulties associated with the children participating on that international stage, noting that competing against countries with more resources and tech giants, was admirable.