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Degrees Abroad, Parents Alone?

Success, Education, and the Silent Crisis of Old Age

A recent tragedy in Bengaluru involving a retired ISRO employee allegedly killing his wife, reportedly out of fear about who would care for her after his death, has shaken many people far beyond the city where it occurred. Early reports describe a deeply distressing situation shaped by emotional strain, ageing, isolation, and anxiety about the future. Police have said the case is under investigation.

But for many readers, the incident has stirred a painful question that goes beyond crime and law:

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What is the meaning of educating our children for success if, in the end, parents are left alone in old age—needing not money, but presence?

It is a hard question. And it deserves an honest answer.

Education is not the problem. Education without values is.

In moments of grief and anger, it is easy to say: Why educate children if they go abroad, build careers, and leave their parents behind?

Yet that conclusion, though emotionally understandable, is too simple.

Education itself is not the enemy. In fact, education is what gives children dignity, opportunity, independence, and the ability to support families. The real problem begins when education is reduced to only three outcomes: degree, salary, status.

If education produces successful professionals but not responsible human beings, then something is broken—not in education as a concept, but in the way we define success.

We have taught many children how to compete. We have not taught enough of them how to remain connected. The new tragedy of modern success

Across South Asia and in many migrant families worldwide, a familiar pattern is emerging. Parents make sacrifices for decades—fees, coaching, hostels, language training, migration paperwork,........

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