Nine-year-old Noor stood at the entrance to his third-grade classroom, clutching his report card with nervous hands. Number one. Another time. His instructor beamed with joy. His classmates cheered. For a short, special moment, the nine-year-old boy felt his aspirations of turning into a soldier—of serving his country, of rendering his parents satisfied—were attainable.
That was 90 days ago.
At present, Noor has left school. He aids his father in the carpentry workshop, learning to smooth furniture in place of mastering mathematics. His school clothes hangs in the wardrobe, clean but unworn. His textbooks sit placed in the corner, their leaves no longer moving.
Noor didn't fail. His household did all they could. And still, it couldn't sustain him.
This is the tale of how financial hardship goes beyond limiting opportunity—it eliminates it completely, even for the most talented children who do all that's required and more.
Even when Top Results Proves Adequate
Noor Rehman's parent is employed as a furniture maker in the Laliyani area, a compact settlement in Kasur region, Punjab, Pakistan. He's skilled. He remains hardworking. He departs home prior to sunrise and comes back after dusk, his hands hardened from many years of crafting wood into items, doorframes, and embellishments.
On profitable months, he receives 20,000 Pakistani rupees—roughly $70 USD. On lean months, considerably less.
From that income, his family of 6 must cover:
- Accommodation for their small home
- Provisions for four children
- Services (power, water supply, cooking gas)
- Medical expenses when kids fall ill
- Travel
- Garments
- Additional expenses
The arithmetic of poverty are basic and harsh. There's never enough. Every rupee is committed prior to receiving it. Every choice is a decision between essentials, never between need and luxury.
When Noor's educational costs came due—along with costs for his other children's education—his father encountered an unsolvable equation. The figures wouldn't work. They don't do.
Some expense had to be cut. Some family member had to surrender.
Noor, as the eldest, comprehended first. He's dutiful. He's sensible past his years. He understood what his parents were unable to say explicitly: his education was the expense they could not read more any longer afford.
He didn't cry. He did not complain. He simply folded his uniform, set aside his books, and requested his father to show him woodworking.
As that's what minors in financial struggle learn from the start—how to give up their aspirations silently, without troubling parents who are already carrying heavier loads than they can bear.