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Q.1-10. Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words have been printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some questions.
The reason poverty must be treated as a factor of education arises from a basic incompatibility between the two. Education necessarily demands long-term horizons. Poverty, on the contrary, compels people to remain embedded in immediate or short-term concerns. India has now recognised eight years of compulsory education as a right of every child, but endemic poverty and social inequality are posing tough constraints in making this law a reality. Elementary education by itself means little; it can only serve as a foundation for further education over many years. The informal economy on which the poor survive forces them to live from day to day. They want to — but usually fail to — plan for the distant future in which their progeny might reap the fruits of education. The children belonging to poor families find it difficult to cope with the regularity that schools demand. This is because hunger, illness and insecurity interrupt their life at home all the time. Their parents have to use most of their energies in order to deal with everyday emergencies.
Life under poverty is unpredictable and prone to sudden losses and traumas. For the poor, there is no such thing as normalcy. Anything can happen anytime, and all you can do is to cope as you suffer. In big cities, municipal authorities can suddenly clear a street of food vendors or bulldoze an unauthorised colony. Next morning, when a child fails to be at school or looks subdued, the teacher shows no curiosity to find out what might have happened to the child’s father or mother the previous afternoon. In rural areas, flood waters can drown hundreds of houses; yet the school is supposed to function and cover the prescribed syllabus! Dams or factories can mean displacement of whole villages. What will happen to children is the least important concern for those in charge of such operations. I once met children in Manibeli, a village that now lies at the bottom of the Sardar Sarovar dam. They had gone through the trauma of seeing their own school vanish under water. Poverty also has a corrosive effect on children’s health and mental capacities. Frequent illness, especially on account of stomach-related problems, is common among children who live in conditions characterised by poor sanitation. A recent study has shown how filthy surroundings, in which faecal material mixes with water and food, weaken the capacity to absorb nutrition. Limited resources to eat well and regularly result in a daily cycle of anxiety and low energy which translates into poor attention to the teacher’s expectations. There cannot be better evidence of the relationship between hunger and education than the success of the mid-day meals programme. The fact that this minimalist scheme has actually improved enrolment and retention proves how major a role hunger and malnourishment play in pushing children to drop out of school. Certain State governments have recently administered a dose of deworming medicine, recognising the prevalence of parasites and the impact of this condition on children’s nutritional status, energy and attention. Poverty often leads to children’s involvement in household work and outside activities that might augment the family’s income, on top of their school work. The burden of responsibilities at home or outside directly influences the child’s participation in school life and capacity to fulfil the teacher’s expectations. Teachers of private schools where 25 per cent of the seats are now being given to the “economically weaker sections” (EWS) category seldom know with clarity what life at home means for children in this category. From looking after younger siblings to sweeping the floor and cooking, an EWS girl often shares major tasks her mother is supposed to accomplish on a daily basis. Whether children work at home or outside, their effort to juggle work-related responsibilities with classroom routines makes their life at school porous and thin. Absence from school or inability to focus makes a direct impact on performance. Once a child starts to lag behind others, he or she becomes a relevant object of stereotyping by classmates and teachers. A vicious cycle sets in. Common stereotypes about the poor get invoked in the teacher’s mind and the child’s behaviour resonates and reinforces these stereotypes. Some of these stereotypes are rooted in caste-related beliefs or in religion. Of course, no principal or teacher would ever acknowledge being guided by these stereotypes.
Q-1. What difference has the author stated between ‘poverty’ and ‘education’?
1. Education requires a lot of money whereas poverty is exactly its opposite.
2. In education we have to focus on long term outcomes whereas poverty makes us pay attention to short term issues.
3. Education and poverty are dissimilar because to gain one you have do away with the other, which if not possible in a country like India.
4. Education must be acquired through skills and talent whereas poverty is something one is born with.
5. None of the above
Q-2. Which of the following statements is/are NOT TRUE in context of the passage?
1. Elementary education has no meaning unless treated as a basis for further education over years.
2. Poor people fail to plan for their future as they have to live from day to day.
3. Poor people have less energy due to unhygienic conditions and lack of nourishing food.
4. Mid-day meal programme served as a live example of the fact that poor people just want to have proper food and do not give a care about their own education.
5. The author had once been to a village whose children had gone through the trauma of seeing their own school vanish under water.
Q-3. What reasons have been mentioned because of which poor are not able to attain education properly?
(A) Unable to maintain regularity at schools
(B) Lack of proper sanitation facilities
(C) Displacement of villages as well as street vendors
(D) Limited resources to eat
(E) Lack of adequate clothes to wear to schools
1. Only A
2. B, C, D and E
3. Both B and D
4. Both C and E
5. A, B, C and D
Q-4. Which of the following sentences is/are TRUE in context of the passage?
1. The slum dwellers have recently administered a dose of deworming medicine in their own localities.
2. Poverty has a corrosive effect on children’s health and mental capacities.
3. Poverty compels children to study hard and not pay any attention on their duties of bringing in money at home by working.
4. All of the above
5. Both 1 and 2
Q-5. What jobs is a girl supposed to perform, along with her mother, who belongs to such poor strata?
(A) Sweep floor (B) Look after siblings (C) Cooking (D) Teaching her siblings
1. Only D
2. Both A and B
3. All except D
4. Both B and D
5. Only A
Q-6. What reason has been mentioned in the passage which leads to stereotyping?
1. Caste or religion
2. Lagging behind other children
3. Lack of proper study material
4. Non-payment of fees
5. Both 1 and 2
Q-7. Choose the word most SIMILAR in meaning to the word printed in bold, as used in the passage.
Incompatibility
1. Insoluble
2. Similarity
3. Disagreement
4. Practicality
5. Enmity
Q-8. Choose the word most SIMILAR in meaning to the word printed in bold, as used in the passage.
Interrupt
1. Disturb
2. Hurdle
3. Demolish
4. Frequent
5. Highlight
Q-9. Choose the word which is most nearly the OPPOSITE in meaning as the word printed in bold as used in the passage.
Clarity
1. Utility
2. Vulnerability
3. Accuracy
4. Obscurity
5. Certainty
Q-10. Choose the word which is most nearly the OPPOSITE in meaning as the word printed in bold as used in the passage.
Subdued
1. Solemn
2. Dejected
3. Controlled
4. Demanding
5. Cheerful
EXPLANATION:
1. (2) 2. (4) 3. (5) 4. (2) 5. (3) 6. (5) 7. (3)
8. (1) Interrupt- bother, interfere
For other options:
Hurdle- barrier, obstacle
Demolish- destroy
9. (4) Obscurity- vagueness, uncertainty
For other options:
Vulnerability- exposure
Q 10. (5) subdued- sad
For other options:
Solemn- quiet, serious
Dejected- depressed, gloomy
