Father used to say the education minister is like a man who promises to fix your roof but only shows up when the sun is out. I saw a kid near Kwakeithel today, carrying a school bag twice his size, walking in the mud because the road repair hasn't reached us yet. Every time a new policy is announced, I think of that boy's father, maybe working double shifts like mine did, still unable to afford the private tuition that actually gets you into a good college. The delay in the smallest things—a road, a teacher in a government school—costs real childhoods, la. And we keep waiting for someone outside to bang the table and tell them hurry up.