Lessons We Forgot

Kashmir is at a crossroads. The cost of ignoring moral education is no longer hidden. It echoes in homes, schools, and the streets.

- Faizan Mushtaq

Arif was the kind of student teachers liked to mention in staffrooms. Neat notebook margins, good grades, no disciplinary issues. His parents, both government employees, often said he would "go far" one day. And he did—straight into a bribery scandal in the municipal office where he landed his first job.

He was twenty-three when they caught him. Not for anything clever or complicated, just a routine file delayed for money. The story didn't make it to headlines, but the neighborhood WhatsApp groups buzzed for days. When asked why he did it, Arif answered calmly: “Everyone does it. It's how things work.”

This wasn't a story of poverty or desperation. Arif came from a stable home, went to a decent school, and had a shelf full of academic certificates. But something essential had been missing.