Session Ending Exam, 2021-22
Class-XII
Subject –English Core (301)
Max. Marks 40 Max. Time 2 Hrs
General Instructions:
1. The Question paper contains THREE Sections-READING, WRITING and LITERATURE.
2. Attempt questions based on specific instructions for each part.
Part A: Reading
1. Read the passage given below.
- Among the natural resources which can be called upon in national plans for development, possibly the most important is human labour. Since the English language suffers from a certain weakness in its ability to describe groups composed of both male and female members, this is usually described as “manpower”.
- Without a productive labour force, including effective leadership and intelligent middle management, no amount of foreign assistance or of natural wealth can ensure successful development and modernization.
- The manpower for development during the next quarter century will come from the world’s present population of infants, children and adolescents. But we are not sure that they will be equal to task. Will they have the health, the education, the skills, the socio-cultural attitudes essential for the responsibilities of development?
- For far too many of them the answer is no. The reason is basic. A child’s most critical years, with regard to physical, intellectual, social, and emotional development, are those before he reaches five years of age. During those critical formative years he is cared for almost exclusively by his mother and in many parts of the world the mother may not have the capacity to raise a superior child. She is incapable of doing so by reason of her own poor health, her ignorance and her lack of status and recognition of social and legal rights, of economic party of independence. One essential factor has been overlooked and ignored. The forgotten factor is the role of women. Development will be handicapped as long as women remain second class citizen, uneducated without any voice in family or community, decisions without legal or economic status, married when they are still practically children, and henceforth producing one baby after another, often to see half of them die before they are of school age.
- We can enhance development by improving ‘women power’, by giving women the opportunity to develop themselves. Statistics show that the average family size increases in inverse ratio to the mother’s years of education- is lowest among college graduates, highest among those with only primary school training, or no education. Malnutrition is most frequent in large families, and increases in frequency with each additional sibling. The principle seems established that an educated mother has healthier and more intelligent children, and that is related to the fact that she has fewer children. The tendency of educated, upper class mothers to have fewer children operates even without access to contraceptive services.
- The educational level of women is significant also because it has a direct influence upon their chances of employment, and the number of employed women in country’s total labour force has a direct bearing on both the gross national product and disposable income of the individual family. Disposable income, especially in the hands of women, influences food purchasing and therefore the nutritional status of the family. The fact that the additional income derives from the paid employment of women provides a logical incentive to restrict the size of the family.
Based on your understanding of the passage, answer any Eight questions from the nine given below
i. What will be the source of the manpower development during the next quarter century?
ii. During which period is the child growth maximum?
iii. Why can’t the first teacher of a child be effective in many parts of the world?
iv. What will happen to development if the womenfolk is neglected?
v. What is the difference between an educated mother and an illiterate mother?
vi. What happens to the family size from an educated mother to an illiterate moth
vii. Among the natural resources which can be called upon in national plans for development……………..
viii. Find a word in the passage (Para 5) which means ‘Increase
ix. Find a word in the passage (Para 6) which means ‘Important’
2. Read the passage given below.
School enrolment fell during pandemic: Annual Status of Education Report The percentage of rural children who were not enrolled in school doubled during the pandemic, with Government schools seeing an increase in enrolment at the expense of private schools, according to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2021. Over a third of children enrolled in Classes 1 and 2 have never attended school in person.
However, enrolment does not necessarily mean that learning took place. In a survey of over 76,000 households with children aged six to 14, ASER found that while 92% of children had textbooks for their grade, only a third had access to any other learning resources or support. With smartphone availability and access limited, online learning was restricted to a quarter of students, though there were major differences in the experience of students from different States. For instance, 91% of students from Kerala and almost 80% from Himachal Pradesh had online education, but only 10% from Bihar and 13% from West Bengal.
Phone survey
Due to the pandemic, ASER’s 16th annual report was based on a phone survey assessing enrolment in schools and tuition classes, and access to devices and learning resources, rather than the organisation’s usual face-to-face survey which assesses learning outcomes and children’s competencies in reading and arithmetic skills. In 2018, only 2.5% of children were not enrolled in school.
Major shift
In both the 2020 and 2021 surveys, that figure had jumped to 4.6%. Government school enrolment spiked significantly from 64.3% in 2018 to 70.3% in 2021, while private school enrollment dropped from 32.5% to 24.4% over the same period. “The shift to government school enrolment could be a result of financial distress, the closure of affordable private schools and the movement of migrants to rural areas,” said ASER Centre director Wilima Wadhwa.
“Although it is not clear if this is a permanent phenomenon or will be reversed post the pandemic, it is important to ensure that government schools and teachers are equipped and given the necessary resources for this surge in enrolment,” she added.
This is particularly true for Class 1 and 2 students, as 37% of those enrolled in government schools have never even stepped into a physical classroom before. “The habit of going to school, sitting in a classroom, and teaching in a classroom has been disrupted significantly. We need to ask if this disruption can be repaired simply by reopening schools,” said Madhav Chavan, president of Pratham, the educational NGO which is the parent organisation of ASER, emphasising that a “business as usual” approach could not be imposed.
Tuition classes
During the pandemic, almost 40% of students took tuition classes, as many parents struggled to provide the learning support students were not receiving from closed schools. Although textbook distribution was a success story in most States, with 92% of students having the texts for their grade level, many students did not receive much else. Just over a third of students enrolled in closed government schools in 2021 received worksheets, phone messages or any other sort of learning activities or materials in the week of the survey.
Smartphone access was a challenge in the delivery of online education. Although availability almost doubled to 68%, only a quarter of children even in homes with smart phones were able to access it whenever needed. In Smartphone owning households, 26% of children had no access to the device at all, while 47% had only occasional access. “Going forward, there is a need for device libraries, so all children can have access to needed devices,” said Rukmini Banerji, Pratham CEO.
About a quarter of children had access to some form of online education, whether content shared through WhatsApp or live classes, while over 20% listened to lessons broadcast on television and radio. About 65% of students did some type of traditional learning activity during the week of the survey, with engagement ranging from 44% in Jharkhand to almost 90% in Kerala. “As students return to school, it is important to start by assessing where they arethe curriculum thinks they should be. Teachers must be given the tools and agency to carry out such an assessment, so that no child is left stranded,” said Dr. Wadhwa
Based on your understanding of the passage, answer any SIX out of Seven questions given below
i. What could be the reasons for the spike in enrolment in Government schools?
ii. What used to be the assessment tools and strategies of ASER before the pandemic?
iii. What do you mean by a “business as usual” approach?
iv. How can we ensure that no child is left stranded in the process of learning, according to Dr. Wadhwa ?
v. In future opening——–will help all children in rural areas to have access to devices as and when they need it.
vi. The pandemic has affected school education in__areas more and has had a ——-in the education system of the country.
vii. Name the only state where more than 80% of the enrolled students did online learning activities at home in 2021 in rural areas
SECTION B-WRITING
3. Your friend Deepika Sharma has invited you to attend her wedding anniversary. You cannot attend it as you have a family get together on the same day. Write a polite letter (reply), in not more than 50 words, expressing your inability to attend the function. Wish her all the happiness on this joyous occasion.
4. Attempt ANY ONE A and B given below
A. With a view to create awareness regarding health, your school has organized ‘Health Mela’ in the school premises. Various charts, models, fitness equipments were displayed. Lectures, debates, discussions were organized. Write a report in 150 words on the ‘Health Mela’ for the school magazine You are Ramu/Reena a student of class XII.
OR
B. You are Varun / Vani, a resident of M-204, Block-C, Dilshad Garden and an MBA from Amity University. You come across an advertisement in The Times of India published by ICICI Bank, New Delhi. Write an application To the Director for the post of Business development Manager. Give your complete bio-data also.
SECTION C-LITERATURE
5. Attempt ANY FIVE of the six questions given below, within 40 words.
i. The peddler comes out as a person with a subtle sense of humour. How does this serve in lightening the seriousness of the theme of the story and also endear him to us?
ii. In spite of Evans being a prisoner, the readers have their sympathy with him rather than the governor. Discuss?
iii. What was the first instance of achieving freedom from fear by the peasant community?
iv. Will Derry get back to his old seclusion or will Mr Lamb’s brief association effect a change in the kind of life he will lead in the future?
v. If you were given an opportunity to share your perception of beauty, what would you say. Explain.
vi. “What knitting was to Aunt Jennifer; poetry was for Adrienne Rich.” Do you agree? Comment?
6. Answer any TWO of the following in about 120-150 word each.
i. Honesty is considered the best policy for earning one’s bread and butter. Stealing is a sin and a punishable act. Vagabonds tend to forget this essential goodness. Elucidate the dictum in the light of the following lines.” He made them himself at odd moments from the material he got by begging in the stores or at the big farms. But even so, the business was not especially profitable. So he had to resort to both begging and petty thievery to keep body and soul together”.
ii. Though aunt Jennifer is a representative of women fighting against masculine authority and power what is the implication of creating a tiger that is extremely masculine and authoritative?
iii. The conflict between the viewpoints of children and the parents is a very common feature. Many time parents find it difficult to handle children. Write a comment on the growing conflict between the ideologies of the parents and children with reference to the story ‘Should Wizard Hit Mommy?