Nine-year-old Noor stood at the beginning of his Class 3 classroom, clutching his academic report with shaking hands. Top position. Once more. His educator smiled with satisfaction. His schoolmates cheered. For a momentary, wonderful moment, the nine-year-old boy felt his aspirations of turning into a soldier—of helping his nation, of rendering his parents happy—were attainable.
That was 90 days ago.
At present, Noor has left school. He works with his father in the carpentry workshop, learning to sand furniture instead of learning mathematics. His school clothes remains in the wardrobe, clean but unworn. His textbooks sit piled in the corner, their pages no longer moving.
Noor never failed. His household did their absolute best. And yet, it proved insufficient.
This is the account of how being poor doesn't just limit opportunity—it removes it wholly, even for the smartest children who do everything asked of them and more.
Despite Top Results Proves Enough
Noor Rehman's parent works as a craftsman in Laliyani village, a compact community in Kasur region, Punjab, Pakistan. He is skilled. He Pakistan remains diligent. He exits home ahead of sunrise and comes back after dusk, his hands calloused from years of forming wood into products, door frames, and decorations.
On successful months, he earns 20,000 Pakistani rupees—roughly seventy US dollars. On lean months, considerably less.
From that wages, his family of six people must pay for:
- Accommodation for their small home
- Food for 4
- Services (electricity, water, fuel)
- Medicine when children fall ill
- Transportation
- Clothing
- Additional expenses
The calculations of economic struggle are straightforward and harsh. It's never sufficient. Every rupee is committed prior to earning it. Every choice is a decision between essentials, never between essential items and extras.
When Noor's tuition needed payment—along with charges for his siblings' education—his father faced an unworkable equation. The calculations wouldn't work. They not ever do.
Something had to be cut. One child had to sacrifice.
Noor, as the senior child, understood first. He remains dutiful. He remains grown-up past his years. He realized what his parents were unable to say out loud: his education was the cost they could not afford.
He did not cry. He did not complain. He simply put away his uniform, organized his textbooks, and inquired of his father to instruct him the trade.
Since that's what children in hardship learn earliest—how to surrender their dreams without complaint, without overwhelming parents who are presently carrying greater weight than they can bear.