Class 12 English NCERT Solutions Flamingo Chapter 2 A Primary School Classroom in a Slum Poem Free PDF Download
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English
Lesson Questions and Answers in a Primary School Classroom in a Slum
Question 1.
Mark the item that best answers the following.
(A) means tall girl with head bowed
Girl
(i) is sick and tired
(ii) His head is bowed in shame
(iii) His hair is disheveled
(b) A paper-looking boy with rat-like eyes
is a boy
(i) Sly and secret
(ii) Thin, hungry and weak
(iii) looking unpleasant
(c) A dwarf of twisted bones, means the unlucky heir.
Boy
(i) has an inherited disability
(ii) was small and bony
(d) His eyes remain in a dream, a squirrel’s game, apart from this instrument in the tree’s room
is a boy
(i) full of hope in the future
(ii) mentally ill
(iii) Distraction from the lesson
(e) Children’s faces are compared to rootless weeds.
This means this
(i) are unsafe
(ii) eat bad food
(iii) are ruiners
Answer:
(a) (i) is sick and tired
(b) (ii) thin, hungry and weak
(c) (i) has an inherited disability
(d) (iii) got distracted from the lesson
(e) (i) are unsafe
Question 2.
What do you think the color of ‘sour cream’ is? Why do you think the poet used this expression to describe the walls of the classroom?
Answer:
The walls of the classroom are painted in light creamy color which symbolizes the bleak future of the slum children studying there. They are deprived of quality Education.
Question 3.
The walls of the classroom are decorated with pictures of ‘Shakespeare’, ‘Domed Buildings’, ‘World Map’ and beautiful valleys. How is it different from the world of these children?
Answer:
Shakespeare’s paintings, skyscrapers, maps and flower valleys are painted on the classroom walls. The world of slum children is actually its opposite. These children live in miserable conditions in an environment of poverty, hunger, deprivation and disease, in contrast to the prosperous and developing world depicted on the classroom walls.
Question 4.
What does the poet want for the slum children? How can change be brought about in their lives?
Answer:
Stephen Spender wants a quality life for slum children with equal opportunities to learn and earn. Their lives can change when they are given equal opportunities, good Education and a respectable life.
Solution of Question Bank in Primary School Class in a Slum
context-to-context practice
Read the excerpts below.
Question 1.
The faces of these children were far away from the strong waves. [Delhi 2017]Like rootless weeds, hair torn around its paleness;
That tall girl with her head bowed.
answer the following.
(a) The pale faces of the children contrast with the pounding waves. (right wrong)
(B) The children looked like rooted weeds. (right wrong)
(c) A tall ___________ has a bowed head?
(d) What was the condition of the children’s hair?
Answer:
(Truthful
(b) wrong
(c) girl
(d) torn
Question 2.
The faces of these children away from the strong waves.
Like rootless weeds, hair torn around its paleness:
That tall girl with her head bowed. paper-
A boy who looks like a mouse.
answer the following.
(A) Signs of their rootless condition were visible on the faces of the children. (right wrong)
(b) The tall girl bows her head due to the burden of studies. (right wrong)
(c) What type of landscape is the place described in these lines?
(d) The boy’s face has been compared to that of a mouse.
Answer:
(Truthful
(b) wrong
(c) strong waves
(d) eyes
Question 3.
dwarf, unfortunate heir
Of twisted bones, describing a father’s twisted illness,
His lesson, from his desk. An unknown, sweet and young behind the dim classroom. His eyes remain in a dream,
Of squirrel games, in the tree room, besides.
answer the following.
(a) The boy was the unlucky heir to his father’s throne. (right wrong)
(B) The boy had inherited bent bones from his father. (right wrong)
(c) A cute and small child was sitting behind.
(d) The child was dreaming of playing ___________.
Answer:
(A) wrong
(b) is true
(c) went unnoticed
(d) squirrel
Question 4.
behind the dim class [All India 2017]An unknown, sweet and young. His eyes remain in a dream,
Of squirrel games, in the tree room, besides.
answer the following.
(A) The class is enjoying the squirrel game.
(b) Not having good lighting in the classroom is ___________.
(c) The boy was sitting at the back of the class.
(d) The hole in which the squirrel was seen has been called a tree ___________ by the poet.
Answer:
(A) wrong
(b) dim
(c) went unnoticed
(d) room
Question 5.
Sour cream on the walls, charity. Shakespeare’s head, [Foreign 2017]Cloudless, gentle domes ride over all cities at dawn.
Bellowy, flowery, the valley of the Tyrolese.
answer the following.
(A) The walls of the classroom were made of sour cream. (right wrong)
(b) There is a head of ___________ on the wall of the classroom.
(c) There are also pictures of ___________ valley.
(d) What time of day is the shot of the Tyrolese valley taken?
Answer:
(A) wrong
(b) Shakespeare
(c)Tyrolese
(d) cloudless dawn
Question 6.
…open hand map
Rewarding the world for its world. And yet, for these
Children, these windows, this is not a map, this is their world,
Where all their future is tinged with fog,
A narrow street closed by a leaden sky
Far away from the rivers, caves and stars of words.
answer the following.
(a) For children in a classroom, the only world they know about is outside their classroom windows. (right wrong)
(b) The map in the classroom is pasted on the classroom window. (right wrong)
(c) The school is situated in ___________ street.
(d) The future of children is bleak and has been compared to ___________.
Answer:
(Truthful
(b) wrong
(c) narrow
(d) fog
Question 7.
Certainly, Shakespeare is evil, the map is a bad example,
By ships and sun and love they are tempted to steal—
For lives that slyly turn into their narrow pits
From fog to endless night? On their pile of lava, these children
Wear skins peeking through bones and steel glasses
With repaired glass, like bottle fragments on stones.
answer the following.
(a) Map is a bad example for children because it gives hope to children. (right wrong)
(b) After seeing the ships and the sunshine, the children’s minds are cleverly moving in their tight ___________.
(c) The living quarters of the children are described as ___________ heaps.
(d) Which metal is used in making children’s spectacle frames?
Answer:
(Truthful
(b) hole
(c) slag
(d) steel
Question 8.
…on their pile of lava, these children [CBSE 2018]Wear skins peeking through bones and steel glasses
With repaired glass, like bottle fragments on stones.
answer the following.
(a) The physique of children is such that their skin appears to be peeking from between the bones. (right wrong)
(b) Children’s glasses are ___________.
(c) Children wear steel ___________.
(d) The broken surface of his repaired glasses looks like a bottle _________ lying on a stone.
Answer:
(Truthful
(b) broken
(c) glasses
(d) bits
Question 9.
On their pile of lava, these children
Wear skins peeking through bones and steel glasses
With repaired glass, like bottle fragments on stones.
All their time and space is a gray area.
So erase their maps from slums as big as Doomsday.
answer the following.
(A) There are bones and broken glasses on their pile of lava. (right wrong)
(b) ___________ peek through the loose skin of children’s bodies.
(c) What is broken in the children’s glasses: steel or glass?
(d) Their slum living has been compared to ___________.
Answer:
(A) wrong
(B) bones
(c) glass
(d) Doomsday
Question 10.
Unless, Governor, Inspector, Visitor,
This map becomes their window and these windows
It was like a doomsday on their lives.
answer the following.
(a) The authorities connected with the school are the Governors, Inspectors and Visitors. (right wrong)
(b) The poet has urged the authorities to make the ___________ of the children in the class a map of the outside world.
(c) Classroom windows have been compared to ___________.
(d) The classroom has an outlet to the world beyond ___________.
Answer:
(Truthful
(b) window
(c) Catacombs
(d) map
A primary school classroom in a slum, short questions and answers
Question 1.
How is ‘Shakespeare wicked and the map a bad example’ for slum school children? [All India 2016]Answer:
The lives of children living in slums are a far cry from what is displayed on the walls. Shakespeare represents literature and the map shows foreign lands with beautiful landscapes. This civilized world is meaningless to them and will lead them to the wrong path.
Question 2.
What does Stephen Spender want to do for slum school children? [Delhi 2016]Answer:
Stephen Spender wants his situation to improve. He wants an Education for slum children that will broaden their horizons, truly liberate them and empower them to make their own history. He wants to get rid of his disappointing life.
Question 3.
To whom does the poet appeal in the poem ‘Primary School Class in a Slum’? What is their appeal? [Delhi 2014 (C)]Answer:
The poet appeals to inspectors, visitors and governors to improve the condition of slum children by providing them quality life and quality Education.
Question 4.
Which words/phrases in the poem show that slum children are suffering from severe malnutrition? [All India 2014 (C)]Answer:
‘Stunt’, ‘bent bones’, ‘boy looking like paper’, ‘skin peeking through the bones’ etc. are some of the words/phrases which reflect the severe malnutrition of children living in slums.
Question 5.
What change does the poet hope for in the lives of slum children? [Foreign 2014]Answer:
The poet hopes that these children will be freed from their poverty and given proper nutrition. The doors of the world will be open for them. They will get quality Education and quality life.
Question 6.
What message does Stephen Spender convey through his poem ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’? [Delhi 2013, Foreign 2011]Answer:
Through this poem Stephen Spender wants to express the idea of social injustice and class inequality. Expressing concern over the plight of slum children, he appealed to governors, visitors and inspectors to provide equal opportunities for Education to these children.
Question 7.
What is the subject of the poem? [Foreign 2013]Answer:
The poem deals with social injustice and class inequality. The poet highlights the lack of political will on the part of the authorities and apathy on the part of the society which forces these children to live a life of poverty and hunger. They are deprived of their basic rights.
Question 8.
What is the world of slum children made of?
Answer:
The world of slum children consists of dark classrooms and narrow streets. Their world is full of poverty, hunger, malnutrition and disease. It is limited to brown and black colors.
Question 9.
What is the only hope for slum children?
Answer:
The only hope for these children lies in the hands of inspectors, visitors and governors. Immediate action should be taken to provide them equal opportunities for Education so that they can move out of their slums and become part of the real world.
