By Rachel Horner

United States regional education advising coordinator for Africa has said that the Sierra Leone West African Examination Council (WAEC) system was valid and producing good students.

Nancy Keteku, who is on a visiting tour of Africa, said the aim of her sojourn to Africa was to assess education officials, training of educational advisors and to conduct advising sessions for students in Freetown and the provinces.

“We want to put Sierra Leone students on the map so that people can understand and see how Sierra Leonean students can fit into the US educational system,” she noted.

She said students in the country who have completed their Senior Secondary School (SSS) are doing well in universities and colleges in the USA .

Keteku said universities and colleges in the US have over 300 - 350 Sierra Leonean students who are steady-minded, considering the difficulties they went through during the war.

She pointed out that the country has an educational foundation that other countries lack. “When babies are born in Sierra Leone , the mothers want the child to go to school,” she said and encouraged students to take the initiative and allow themselves to dream about the future they want.

She noted the difficulties facing African students who want to pursue studies in the US .

“That is why we are advising students through our embassies' libraries, outreach programmes, group sessions and individual sessions,” she said.