The Kashmiri Lecturer Forgotten By The System

By Muslim Ahmad Shah

Every morning, Shah Sob buttoned his shirt carefully, the way a teacher should. He tucked his lesson plans under his arm, filled with ideas he had worked on for years.

He had earned NET, SET, a Ph.D., and spent endless nights researching. Everything he had learned and all the effort he had made rested in those papers.

His parents used to say,“Education is worship. A teacher is respected everywhere.”

But the Department of Higher Education had other plans.

Respect had turned into silence.

Shah Sob was a Need Base Academic Arrangement lecturer. They treated him like a tool on a shelf, something bought and left there, to be used when convenient.

He had earned a high merit rank, but he was posted in the 3rd zone, far from home. The journey itself swallowed half his salary and left hope in pieces.

Others, with lesser qualifications, chose postings closer to home. Merit didn't matter. Degrees didn't matter. Dignity didn't matter.

Every month, Shah Sob waited for his salary as if it were a lottery. Sometimes it arrived. Sometimes it didn't. One signature from the Director decided if his children would eat, if the landlord would wait another week, if he could buy a notebook for his daughters.

People laughed at him sometimes.“Oh, a college lecturer? Always begging for salary... what a joke!”

The words hurt more than he could show.

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