Nine-year-old Noor stood at the beginning of his Class 3 classroom, gripping his report card with shaking hands. First place. Another time. His educator grinned with pride. His schoolmates applauded. For a momentary, beautiful moment, the 9-year-old boy believed his hopes of turning into a soldier—of protecting his nation, of causing his parents proud—were possible.
That was several months back.
Today, Noor is not at school. He's helping his father in the carpentry workshop, practicing to polish furniture rather than learning mathematics. His school clothes remains in the cupboard, pristine but idle. His schoolbooks sit arranged in the corner, their sheets no longer turning.
Noor passed everything. His family did all they could. And still, it proved insufficient.
This is the account of how economic struggle doesn't just limit opportunity—it destroys it completely, even for the brightest children who do what's expected and more.
When Top Results Is Not Enough
Noor Rehman's dad works as a furniture maker in Laliyani village, a small town in Kasur region, Punjab, Pakistan. He is skilled. He's dedicated. He leaves home ahead of sunrise and comes back after dusk, his hands Poverty hardened from many years of forming wood into products, entries, and decorative pieces.
On good months, he makes 20,000 Pakistani rupees—about 70 dollars. On challenging months, less.
From that earnings, his family of six people must afford:
- Accommodation for their humble home
- Provisions for four
- Services (power, water, fuel)
- Doctor visits when kids become unwell
- Travel
- Garments
- Other necessities
The arithmetic of poverty are basic and unforgiving. Money never stretches. Every rupee is allocated ahead of earning it. Every selection is a choice between requirements, not once between need and extras.
When Noor's educational costs needed payment—together with expenses for his brothers' and sisters' education—his father faced an unworkable equation. The math failed to reconcile. They don't do.
Something had to give. Someone had to give up.
Noor, as the oldest, realized first. He's responsible. He remains wise exceeding his years. He comprehended what his parents couldn't say out loud: his education was the expenditure they could not afford.
He did not cry. He didn't complain. He only folded his attire, organized his textbooks, and requested his father to train him carpentry.
Since that's what kids in financial struggle learn from the start—how to surrender their ambitions quietly, without overwhelming parents who are currently shouldering heavier loads than they can bear.