An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum – NCERT ZONE – Think it Out
An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum – NCERT ZONE – Think it Out
Question 1. Tick the item which best answers the following :
(a) The tall girl with her head weighed down means :
The girl
(i) is ill and exhausted
(ii) has her head bent with shame
(iii) has untidy hair
(b) The paper seeming boy with rat’s eyes means :
The boy is
(i) sly and secretive
(ii) thin, hungry and weak
(iii) unpleasant looking
(c) The stunted, unlucky heir of twisted bones means :
The boy
(i) has an inherited disability
(ii) was short and bony
(d) His eyes live in a dream. A squirrel’s game, in the tree room other than this means :
The boy is
(i) full of hope in the future
(ii) mentally ill
(iii) distracted from the lesson
(e) The children’s faces are compared to ‘rootless weeds’
This means they
(i) are insecure
(ii) are ill-fed
(iii) are wasters
Central Idea of My Mother at Sixty six
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2. What do you think is the colour of ‘sour cream’? Why do you think the poet has used this expression to describe the classroom walls?
Ans. The colour of ‘sour cream’ is pale-yellowish. The poet has used this expression to suggest the decayig aspect. The fading colour of the walls matches with the faces of the children who read there.
3. The walls of the classroom are decorated with the pictures of “Shakespeare’, ‘buildings with domes’, “world maps’ and beautiful valleys’. How do these contrast with the world of these children?
Ans. The pictures that decorated the walls of the classroom are a stark contrast with the world of these slum children. They are deprived of good education. They are all-clad and ill fed. This is in contrast with ‘Shakespeare’. The dark, narrow huts in the slum are in contrast to “buildings with domes.’ They are confined to the area of the slum and its surroundings. It is in contrast with the ‘world map’. Their dirty drain and heaps of waste are in contrast with ‘beautiful valleys.’
4. What does the poet want for the children of the slums? How can their lives be made to change?
Ans. The poet wants the government, inspector and visitor to realise their responsibility towards the children of the slums. They should break the barriers that stand in the way of giving these slum children meaningful education and lead them from their narrow bleak slum into the wonderful world of education.