The Myth of Merit in Kashmir Campus

Letter to Editor

- Afreen Bashir

I can still picture myself sitting in my 10th-grade classroom in Srinagar, the blackboard covered with neat notes written in white chalk. The teacher said, "This will all show up on the exam," and suddenly, every pen in the room began to move faster. They weren't writing out of curiosity or reflection, but out of fear of forgetting, losing marks, and disappointing someone waiting at home.

That moment stayed with me. It revealed something about how we, as a society, mistake remembering for understanding.

From our earliest years, we are trained to value correctness over curiosity. The child who asks why is often silenced with a familiar reply: "Because it's in the syllabus."