Young Noor stood at the beginning of his third grade classroom, holding his school grades with trembling hands. Top position. Again. His teacher grinned with joy. His peers applauded. For a brief, beautiful moment, the 9-year-old boy thought his hopes of turning into a soldier—of protecting his homeland, of causing his parents happy—were possible.
That was several months back.
At present, Noor is not at school. He works with his dad in the furniture workshop, studying to polish furniture in place of studying mathematics. His school attire remains in the closet, unused but neat. His books sit piled in the corner, their pages no longer flipping.
Noor never failed. His family did everything right. And yet, it couldn't sustain him.
This is the narrative of how being poor goes beyond limiting opportunity—it eliminates it totally, even for the most talented children who do everything asked of them and more.
While Superior Performance Is Not Enough
Noor Rehman's parent labors as a furniture maker in Laliyani, a compact settlement in Kasur, Punjab, Pakistan. He is skilled. He's hardworking. He exits home before sunrise and returns after sunset, his hands rough from decades of creating wood into pieces, entries, and decorative pieces.
On profitable months, he receives 20,000 Pakistani rupees—about seventy US dollars. On difficult months, considerably less.
From that wages, his household of six must pay for:
- Housing costs for their little home
- Groceries for 4
- Utilities (electricity, water, fuel)
- Doctor visits when children get sick
- Transportation
- Garments
- Additional expenses
The mathematics of poverty are basic and harsh. There's always a shortage. Every coin is earmarked prior to earning it. click here Every choice is a choice between needs, never between need and comfort.
When Noor's academic expenses were required—plus charges for his other children's education—his father dealt with an unsolvable equation. The math couldn't add up. They not ever do.
Some expense had to be eliminated. One child had to sacrifice.
Noor, as the senior child, realized first. He's mature. He is wise beyond his years. He realized what his parents couldn't say aloud: his education was the expenditure they could no longer afford.
He didn't cry. He didn't complain. He merely folded his attire, set aside his textbooks, and requested his father to show him woodworking.
As that's what children in poor circumstances learn from the start—how to relinquish their ambitions quietly, without overwhelming parents who are presently shouldering more than they can manage.