Time to take notes?

Once again, we live to witness another hardworking young person falling prey to the vicious schemes of scammers who were able to exploit her aspirations and rob her of millions in lifelong savings, along with her shelter. Laiba Aijaz, a highly intelligent individual, unfortunately couldn’t live to see what the universe had in store for her.

We are quick to comment on how these criminals should be brought to justice, and rightfully so. However, there is a huge gap that we are all missing and many angles that we have overlooked for far too long. Our ignorance of these important aspects is now beginning to show its consequences.

While teaching at a leading university, I have the privilege of working with students from different backgrounds, allowing me to observe their varying attitudes towards grades and life. For far too long, we have instilled a mindset in students, especially those from humble backgrounds, that grades are the only things that matter and that nothing in life is worth risking a drop in their grades. We have neglected their personalities, their street smartness, and their talents. As a student of the same system, I have always felt that grades were the only things that mattered and that if those grades did not get you access to the best quality education, your life was worthless.

Speaking from experience as a national-level gold medalist, I can say that there is little to no training at the college or government level to guide students on the proper way to apply for scholarships at Ivy League institutions or other foreign universities. In a country where the majority of people struggle to afford basic necessities such as food, shelter, and clothing, not everyone has highly educated, affluent parents who can send them to the best counsellors. As a result, many gold medalists end up in mundane jobs, their intellectual potential lost in the whirlpool of everyday struggles.

There is a stark difference between students coming from the country’s two prominent schooling systems: Cambridge and the local board system. Students from the latter often have to work on their own skill development without proper guidance. This includes developing their conference and communication skills, participating in extracurricular activities that strengthen their applications to reputable universities, and pursuing passion projects that reflect their personalities and interests.

Another important factor is the immense pressure placed on people with exceptional intellect. They are always put on a high pedestal and are expected to never do anything wrong. The constant expectation to perform exceptionally and remain flawless can bring them to a point where they feel as though the entire world is crashing down around them simply because they believe they have made a terrible mistake and that there is no way back.

Unfortunate incidents like this should shake up our entire system. The response should not stop at punishing the individuals responsible for this heinous crime. We must go much further.

Our government, at the regional level, needs to introduce formal training programmes for school and college students who wish to pursue higher education abroad. These programmes should teach them how to approach universities directly, identify suitable scholarships, and develop the extracurricular profiles and passion projects needed to gain admission to leading universities on scholarships.

We, as educators, need to make time in our daily schedules to teach life skills, discuss priorities and challenges, and help students develop backup plans for when things don’t go our way. We need to teach our children that nothing is the end of the world. No matter how badly they mess up or how significant a financial loss they suffer, they can always start over. Nothing matters more than their lives.

As a mother, my heart goes out to the parents of this highly talented girl who had dreams and aspirations and wanted to make a mark on this world.

You will always be remembered.

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Opinion Desk.