On his graduation, he couldn’t believe he was among the high achievers of the school. Tears filled Farzan’s eyes as he remembered his journey to success!

Farzan was a dumb boy, he never took interest in studies nor felt ashamed of being scolded and punished by the teachers. His results deteriorated with every passing year, and then he was given the last warning to either improve his grades or leave school. His class coordinator Ms Ayesha, called his mother to discuss his performance for the very last time.

The next day, Farzan’s mother walked slowly to the meeting room. She knew how Farzan had been in studies, she was sad and dejected but she went in. Ms Ayesha, told her that Farzan had not performed well enough in any tests, assignments or even class eighth exams, hence he will not be promoted to the next class. Farzan’s mother requested the teacher to promote Farzan on her behalf and if no improvement in studies could be seen in the coming academic year, then the school management should make him repeat the class or even expel him.

Ms Ayesha discussed it with the principal of the school. After the meeting when his mother came out from the room, she was teary-eyed. Farzan had never seen her like that before. Not knowing what happened Farzan tried to ask his mother continuously. She remained silent until they reached their house.

At home, she appeared frail and deeply disappointed. Taking his hand, she sat on the sofa and began, “I am truly disappointed by your attitude towards studies. Do you even realise how hard your father and I work to pay your school fees? Is this how you repay your parents?” Tears started to drop from her eyes.

“I am sorry, mum,” he said.

She rose and brought a folder, revealing Farzan’s early childhood results when he used to excel academically.

“You once did so well and studies and I know you can do it again,” she said.

Farzan felt embarrassed and couldn’t bear to meet his mother’s tearful gaze. That day, he vowed never to hurt his mother again and pledged to achieve the seemingly impossible.

He resolved to read his books every day, keeping a dictionary nearby to search for meanings of words he could not understand. He started to jot down every word from his teachers’ lectures and reviewed them all when he returned home. A neighbour, who was in university, learned of Farzan’s academic struggles and offered him tuition in any subject he desired. Farzan began studying math with him and discovered valuable resources available on the internet.

Within half year, he was improved in his performance in school and the result reflected in his completed assignments, projects and tests. A month was left for the final board exams. Farzan was full of energy. He studied and gave his exams with his full focus and dedication. He was optimistic about the result.

When the results of the board exams were out, he achieved 87.9%, which was truly a remarkable accomplishment. Farzan’s journey from scoring 20% to 87.9% was not easy. He demonstrated to his parents that he was not a dull student, but indeed a star!

If you, as a student, neglect studies, then you should realise that being able to study in a school is a blessing and not all children in Pakistan are this blessed. If you go to school and don’t study, you are wasting the money that your parents spend to educate you.

Farzan wasn’t a dumb person, rather not studying at all made him believe he is not good at studies. As he studied with motivation he realised the true potential in him.

Published in Dawn, Young World, March 16th, 2024