Five teenage students from Gambia due to compete in an international robotics competition in Washington this month have been denied visas by the United States.
The Associated Press reported that the students were disheartened by the rejection with their leader Mucktarr MY Darboe describing it as “disappointing and unfair.”
Most Gambians are Muslims and it is anticipated that the denial of the visas which happened in April might be part of the US government’s new rules on immigration.
According to the Associated Press, Gambia’s government is making another attempt to secure the visas for the students who will now go through another interview session.
Mucktarr MY Darboe is quoted as saying “We will go for an interview and hope for the best”
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.
The president of FIRST Global, Joe Sestak has said that there are plans to include the Gambia and Afghanistan teams that have been denied visas in the competition via Skype.
This year’s competition will take place from July 16-18.
Source: Africafeeds.com
