Srinagar, Dec. 10 -- I first met Aasiya in a small village classroom. She sat at the back, hunched, eyes fixed on the floor.

Months earlier, she had stopped coming to school, unable to keep up with lessons she once loved.

Mathematics made her anxious, reading aloud felt like a spotlight she could not step into, and at home, the expectations were relentless: sibling care, household chores, and whispers of an early marriage she did not want.

Her story is not unique in Kashmir countryside ridden with complex realities.

Walking through the dusty lanes to the Human Welfare Voluntary Organization's Adolescent Learning Center, I realized how many girls like Aasiya had slipped away from school silently, almost invisibly.

Their absence was...