In Online Education NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English Main Course Book Unit 2 Chapter 1 My struggle for an Education are part of NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English. Here we have given NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English Main Course Book Unit 2 Chapter 1 My struggle for an Education.
| Board | CBSE |
| Textbook | NCERT |
| Class | Class 10 |
| Subject | English Main Course Book |
| Chapter | Unit 2 Chapter 1 |
| Chapter Name | My struggle for an Education |
| Category | NCERT Solutions |
Online Education for CBSE Class 10 English Main Course Book Unit 2 Education Chapter 1 My struggle for an Education
TEXTUAL EXERCISES
Question 1.
Read about a boy, Booker T. Washington and his struggle to receive an education.
Answer:
Students to read the text on their own and understand it with the help of word-notes given above.
Question 2.
Answer the following based on your reading of the passage above :
1. The hoy was inspired to go to Hampton because of ………..
2. After working in the coal mine where did the boy work next and what did he learn ?
3. What happened to the money he had earned at Mrs Ruffner’s house ?
4. How far was Hampton from Malden ? Was he able to hire a coach ? What did he do and where did he reach ?
5. What did he do in Richmond in order to earn for his journey to Hampton ?
6. Why did the writer not make a favourable impression on the head teacher ?
7. What did he have to go through in order to get admission to the Hampton Institute ?
8. The names of some places are given below. Think of the main event that took place there and write them in the order given in the story.
(a) Hampton
(b) General Lewis Ruffner’s house
(c) coal mine
(d) city of Richmond in Virginia.
Answer:
1. his intense desire to get an education.
2. The boy worked next in the house of Mrs Ruffner. Thereafter, he worked in the port to unload a vessel at Richmond, Virginia.
3. The money that he earned at Mrs. Ruffner’s house had been spent by his stepfather and the remainder by the family.
4. It was about 500 miles. No, he was not able to hire a coach as he had no money worth the name. He begged rides both in wagons and in cars. Thus he reached Richmond, Virginia, about 82 miles from Hampton.
5. He worked in the port in unloading the vessel stationed there.
6. The writer didn’t make a favourable impression on the head teacher because of his shabby appearance. He had not eaten for days and hadn’t taken a bath. Also he had not changed his clothes for long.
7. He went through a kind of examination in the form of cleaning and dusting the recitation room three-four times.
8. Main Events associated with these places (in order given in the story) :
Question 3.
Which of the following qualities best describe the boy’s character ? Give evidence from the story to support your answer.
Answer:
careful, hard-working → I swept the recitation room three times, then I got a dusting cloth, and I dusted it four times
polite, respectful → I presented myself before the head teacher for assignment to a class
eager to learn → I resolved at once to go to that school … Hampton.
frank → The lessons that I learned in the home of Mrs. Ruffher were as valuable to me as any education … since.
Question 4.
Match the following phrases with their meanings :
| Phrases | Meanings |
| (a) at work | (i) pay off the cost by doing some work in lieu |
| (b) work out | (ii) a day one has been waiting for |
| (c) to be on fire | (iii) to be working |
| (d) the great day | (iv) excited |
| (e) to be out of money | (v) not at all |
| (f) not one bit of | (vi) not having any money |
Answer:
(a) → (iii)
(b) → (i)
(c) → (iv)
(d) → (ii)
(e) → (vi)
(f) → (v)
Question 5.
Based on your understanding of the story respond to the following statements. You could get into groups of six and each student could respond to one statement.
(а) Rahul is a victim of circumstances.
(b) His classmates’ reaction is normal
(c) Rahul should take admission in another school
(d) Rahul’s teacher is at fault
(e) Children require individual attention
(f) We need more people like Mrs. Mini
Answer:
Classroom activity to be undertaken under the supervision of class teacher. One sample of responses to the above statements is given below :
(a) Yes, Rahul is a victim of circumstances in one way because he is bom to poor parents. This way he can be called an unlucky boy, moreso, because of his father.
(b) His classmates’ reaction is normal as usually one’s classmates behave like that. What Rahul should do is to tell his teachers of it. This will stop them to make fun of him or ridicule him.
(c) No, Rahul should not go to another school. He must learn to stand on his own legs. Leaving the school won’t do. This will make him more sad and depressed.
(d) Rahul’s teacher is not at fault because he doesn’t know what’s happening to Rahul unless he is told of it. I am sure if his teacher gets to know of it, he will help Rahul to regain confidence in himself.
(e) Yes, it is a fact that children require individual attention as they have different traits. Secondly, they need to be told of the problems faced by their students. They are not gods to know what is happening to their students in their absence.
(f) Yes, we really need more people like Mrs. Mini. In fact, the race of such people like Mini has come to a big zero. The reason being that all are stressed due to their own problems. These have made them stone-hearted, self-centred and selfish.
Question 6.
After the convocation, Mrs. Mini, Rahul’s mother and Rahul have a conversation. Write the conversation and present it to the class in groups of three.
Answer:
One sample conversation is given below :
Rahul’s mother : Madam, it is all due to your care, attention and affection that has made my son an Engineer. I had never expected that Rahul will become such a great man seeing our background.
Mrs. Mini : No, no, it’s not that. I merely helped him as I should.
Rahul’s mother : I wish I had had such great persons like you who have kind of ‘adopted’ children like Rahul. I am sure if you hadn’t been there, Rahul could have ended like other children.
Mrs. Mini : You may be right. I can’t say anything about it. What I wish to say is that I, somehow, saw in Rahul the potential to rise higher in life. That made me do what I did to him as a normal human being. I feel proud of him that he has come out to my expectations.
Rahul’s mother : Rahul and we shall never forget the gratitude for what you have done for our family. I want to say that Rahul will never prove thankless in his regards to you. I am proud to say that Rahul has got two mothers like Lord Krishna.
Mrs. Mini : I wish Rahul all the happiness of the life and the world. He has proved true to my efforts. I am proud of him.
Raliul’s mother : Thank you very much. We all shall ever be indebted to you for this.
Mrs. Mini : Oh! mention not. It was my duty.
Question 7.
On the basis of your reading of the passage given above and vour own research on the Right to Education, find out and discuss in your groups.
(a) What is the Right to Education ?
(b) What are the challenges of RTE ?
(c) What is the implication of ‘free education in the Act ?
(d) What action will he taken if some parents don’t send children to schools ?
(e) Is the Act targeted only at weaker sections ?
(f) Have the disabled children been adequately addressed in the Act ?
(g) What about children not in schools right now ?
(h) What if children admitted after age 6 attain the age of 14 before completing class 8 ?
(i) Do you think the government has the funds to set up adequate number of schools ?
(j) If not, then how will the government meet the challenges of access, equity and quality in education ?
Answer:
Meant for class room level discussion.
Some points ore given below to help the students in it.
(a) The Right to Education means the fundamental right of children to Free and Compulsory Education under the Act. It makes the states to provide this education at any cost. The Act makes it obligatory on the state to guarantee right to education. It also makes it obligatory to “ensure compulsory admission, attendance, and completion of elementary education by every child of 6 to 14 years”.
(b) There are many challenges of RTE. These are : absence of schools in remote areas, no infrastructure, poverty, apathy of the govt, agencies, non-availability of transport from villages having no schools, etc.
(c) The implication of‘free education’ in the Act is incurring any expenditure and bearing it in giving education to a child. For instance, if a child is taken to another school and for that expenses are incurred, these are to be met by the department and not the child.
(d) If some parents don’t send children to a school; they will be liable to be prosecuted as per the law.
(e) Yes, the Act is targeted mostly at the weaker sections. It is because these are the very sections which fail to send their wards to schools due to poverty etc.
(f) Yes, the disabled children together with the poor and marginalised children have adequately been addressed in the Act.
(g) The children who are not in schools right now will be at a great disadvantage. They won’t get education as defined in the Act. They will stand to lose many opportunities to progress in life and live a contented life.
(h) Such students shall develop a sense of inferiority complex and it is quite possible they may drop out.
(i) I think the government has sufficient funds to set up adequate number of schools. If it doesn’t have, it can generate. But the problem is that there is much difference between declaring or providing in the Act and actually implementing it. The problem is not of money but of work culture and integrity of character of the govt officials and machinery. Also there is lack of political willpower and humanised seriousness.
(j) The government will address these challenges in education again with more seriousness. It will issue new steps which may solve the problem in right earnest. But what will happen depends on many things and only time will tell.
Question 8.
After you have discussed, give a one minute presentation on any one of the above topics in your class.
Answer:
Here we are giving a few hints to enable the students to give one minute presentation on a couple of points. Students to write these on the remaining points taking clues from the matter already given in A9.
- Right to Education. Means all children’s fundamental right to receive free and compulsory education under the Act. The states are under an obligation to provide this to the children. Right to education is, thus, to be guaranteed to every child of 6 to 14 years. States are to bear the expenses.
- Challenges of RTE. There are many challenges of RTE. Superstitions, backwardness, poverty, absence of schools in remote areas, lack of teachers, absence of transport facilities to them, parents’ mindsets, lack of awareness about the benefits of education on the part of parents, etc.
Question 9.
Now, hold a class debate on the following motion :
The Right of Education Act is a realistic and achievable goal that will change the face of education in India.
Answer:
Classroom activity. The necessary debate is given below :
The Right to Education Act is a Realistic and Achievable Goal that will Change the Face of Education in India
for the motion
Worthy chairperson, secretary and dear students
Today, I, Rahul, stand before you to speak for the motion on ‘The Right to Education Act (RTE) is a realistic and achievable goal that will change the face of education in India’. I submit that the RTE makes it obligatory on the state to guarantee right to education under it. It is to ensure compulsory admission, attendance, and completion of elementary education by every child of 6 to 14 years. Then financial constraints shall also be addressed properly. I feel very strongly that the three basic goals will greatly benefit the children coming from poor and marginalized families. These are (a) bringing children of marginalized sections into the ambit of school education, (b) ensuring that all schools and their teachers meet some specified norms and (c) ensuring that all children receive quality schooling free from any kind of discrimination.
In my opinion, education and literacy are the keys to many problems facing the people. Illiterate people are liable to be cheated, deceived and discriminated against. Also they fail to get the benefits of various govt, plans. If all Indians are literate, such possibilities will be eliminated. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that today the condition on the education front is not like what it was when India got independence. Today almost all villages have schools in them. People, today, you’ll see, are more awake towards the benefits of education. Seeing all this I strongly feel that with the passage of time RTE will change the face of education in India. The country shall definitely march towards a new dawn of progress due to education.
Thank you very much.
against the motion
Worthy chairperson, secretary and dear students
Today I, Harsh, stand before you to speak against the motion ‘The Right to Education is a realistic and achievable goal that will change the face of education in India’. My knowledgeable friend has drawn a rosy and optimistic picture of our country’s future in the field of education. There is no denying the fact that our country has taken some very bold strides in spreading the education. And we have been seeing the progress. But we have to go a long way to fully change the face of education in the country.
I would like to draw your attention to the wide gap between what is shown to us through various media and data and what actually is available. In fact, I personally feel that a satisfying picture is drawn before us through various data and statistics. It shows that everywhere there is happiness, progress and prosperity. But we still see dropouts from schools, searching the trinkets in the heaps of garbage. Those living in slums don’t go to school. There are villages where there are no schools, no teachers and nothing worth the name called ‘a school’. If I may not sound rude, I personally feel that the reality stares us in the face when we actually visit the interiors of the country. We can see for ourselves how RTE is succeeding there ! My knowledgeable opponent should be praised for giving you a good view. I wish that all were true. But my views are just the opposite. I dr.x’t think RTE will succeed in its mission unless we change our work culture and recognize the reality behind facts and figures. I, therefore, oppose the motion.
Thank you very much.
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