Rabat - Moroccan Education Minister Chakib Benmoussa is under intense scrutiny following the exclusion of six top Moroccan students from the 65th International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO), which was held in Britain from July 11 to 22.
The students were barred from attending the prestigious competition due to delays in visa processing by the Ministry of National Education, reports indicate.
The affected students had previously been selected to represent Morocco after excelling in several national competitions that saw participation from around 200 students across the country.
The students, who had been preparing intensively for the Olympiad, submitted their passports for visa processing in May.
Despite their thorough preparation and training, which included a preparatory camp at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Benguerir, the students were unable to travel as planned on July 14, one day before the competition started, due to visa delays.
The students and their families were only informed on July 14 that they would not be able to attend.
On July 15, the day of their scheduled departure, they were taken to the TLS Contact center in Rabat in a last-minute attempt to secure their visas but were unsuccessful.
The incident has drawn sharp criticism from the students' families, who argue that the delay represents a missed opportunity for the students to showcase their skills on the prominent international platform, which saw participation from 125 countries.
The families also said that the students had previously achieved significant success in other international competitions, including the Francophone Olympiad, where they had secured the best result in Morocco's history.