UPSC Prelims 2018·CSAT·Reading Comprehension·Passage Comprehension

It is no longer enough for us to talk about providing for universal access to education. Making available schooling facilities is an essential prerequisite, but is insufficient to ensure that all children attend school and participate in the learning process. The school may be there, but children may not attend or they may drop out after a few months. Through school and social mapping, we must address the entire gamut of social, economic, cultural and indeed linguistic and pedagogic issues, factors that prevent children from weaker sections and disadvantaged groups, as also girls, from regularly attending and complementing elementary education. The focus must be on the poorest and most vulnerable since these groups are the most disempowered and at the greatest risk of violation or denial of their right to education. The right to education goes beyond free and compulsory education to include quality education for all. Quality is an integral part of the right to education. If the education process lacks quality, children are being denied their right. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act lays down that the curriculum should provide for learning through activities, exploration and discovery. This places an obligation on us to change our perception of children as passive receivers of knowledge, and to move beyond the convention of using textbooks as the basis of examinations. The teaching- learning process must become stress- free; and a massive programme for curricular reform should be initiated to provide for a child- friendly learning system, that is more relevant and empowering. Teacher accountability systems and processes must ensure that children are learning, and that their right to learn in a child- friendly environment is not violated. Testing and assessment systems must be reexamined and redesigned to ensure that these do not force children to struggle between school and tuition centres, and bypass childhood. With reference to the above passage, the following assumptions have been made: 1. The Right to Education guarantees teachers' accountability for the learning process of children. 2. The Right to Education guarantees 100% enrolment of children in the schools. 3. The Right to Education intends to take full advantage of demographic dividend. Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

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Last updated 23 May 2026, 3:31 pm IST
  1. A1 onlyCorrect
  2. B2 and 3 only
  3. C3 only
  4. D1, 2 and 3

Explanation

The passage explicitly states, "Teacher accountability systems and processes must ensure that children are learning, and that their right to learn in a child- friendly environment is not violated." This directly supports statement 1, making it a valid assumption. Statement 2 is not directly supported. The passage discusses the need to address various factors to ensure children attend school and participate, but it does not guarantee 100% enrollment. It highlights the challenges in achieving universal attendance, not a guaranteed outcome. Statement 3 is not mentioned in the passage. The passage focuses on the right to education, quality, and child-friendly learning, not on economic concepts like demographic dividend. While quality education might contribute to it, the passage does not state this as an intention of the Right to Education. Therefore, only assumption 1 is valid. The final answer is A.
Reading Comprehension: It is no longer enough for us to talk about providing for universal access to education. Making available schooling faci

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