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NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Chapter 2 - An Elementary School Classroom In A Slum

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Last updated date: 22nd Mar 2024
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MVSAT 2024

Class 12 English NCERT Solutions Chapter-2 Poem - An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum

The NCERT Solutions Class 12 English Flamingo Poem Chapter 2 offers credible and accurate information for students to comprehend the vocabulary, the esoteric allusions, and the theme of the poem An Elementary School in a Slum. The NCERT Solutions aim to encompass all the important exercises like meanings, short questions, and long questions with detailed explanations in simple language from this chapter. Students preparing or revising for their Class XII board examinations should go through these NCERT Solutions to secure and improvise their score chart. The NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Flamingo Poem Chapter 2 are composed and prepared by experienced subject experts to help each student comprehend the poem and frame efficient answers during the exam.


Class:

NCERT Solutions for Class 12

Subject:

Class 12 English

Subject Parts:

Part 1 Flamingo

Chapter Name:

Chapter-2 Poem - An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum

Content-Type:

Text, Videos, Images and PDF Format

Academic Year:

2023-24

Medium:

English and Hindi

Available Materials:

  • Chapter Wise

  • Exercise Wise

Other Materials

  • Important Questions

  • Revision Notes

Access NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Flamingo Chapter 2 Poem - An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum

Before you Read :

1. Have you ever visited or seen an elementary school in a slum? What does it look like?

Ans: Yes, I have visited a slum school before. It was a government school on the outskirts of the city. We went there for volunteer work with the NGO I was working with. The school was not in the best possible state. The plaster was off, and it was not properly maintained. It was devoid of basic amenities such as clean drinking water and washrooms. There were just a few rooms and had children of varied age groups in each. Some of the windows were broken and kids were not that interested in studies. Some kids had proper uniforms while others had them torn or worn off. The staff even was uninterested in instructing the kids and their well-being. So, the experience was quite disturbing. 

 

Think it Out 

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

Ans: The correct answer is an option (ii) is ill and exhausted. The kid must have been tired from accompanying her mother around the home with housework and then coming to school.


(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

Ans: The correct answer is option (ii) thin, hungry, and weak. Most of the children in slums are not provided access to proper food and nutrition which can make them extremely thin and weak.


(c) The stunted, unlucky heir of twisted bones means the boy:

(i) has an inherited disability

(ii) was short and bony

Ans: The correct option is (i) has an inherited disability. The kid must have inherited some genetic disability that would have passed to him from his parents or grandparents. The condition provides him twisted bones and a lack of proper stature.


(d) His eyes live in a dream. A squirrel's game, in the tree room other than this. This means the boy is:

(i) full of hope in the future

(ii) mentally ill

(iii) distracted from the lesson

Ans: The correct answer is option (iii) distracted from the lesson. The child wasn't interested in what the lesson had, instead he was busy remembering the things he loved and the games he played with his friends.


(e) The children's faces are compared to 'rootless weeds'. This means they:

(i) are insecure

(ii) are ill-fed

(iii) are wasters

Ans: The correct answer is option (iii)are wasters. The simile tells us that there is nothing to ground the children. They are completely unwanted by society, and no one is bothered about their existence.


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 ‘sour cream’ indicates dirty, worn-out, yellow colour.  The poet has used this expression to describe the classroom walls because the school was not in a proper state. It signifies that the school has not been painted for years which has led the paint to turn darker. It also tells us how the future of the kids inside the room is sour because of the lack of facilities they have.


3. The walls of the classroom are decorated with pictures of 'Shakespeare', 'buildings with domes', 'world maps' and beautiful valleys. How do these contrast with the world of these children?

Ans: The images on the wall are bright and beautiful and introduces them to the world beyond the slums. These pictures indicate the contrast of life they are living with someone who has it all. They have not seen or explored the world in the picture and hence it acts as a portal for them to imagine something beyond the filthy walls of the school. Poverty represents a lack of proper education, food, facilities, etc. The pictures can also tempt the kids to get out of the area they grew up in to explore the lands further and build a better future for them. The world map contrasts with the image of their world. For kids, the “narrow street sealed in with a lead sky” is their world which the map shows them as insignificant since it is not even located on the map.


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 children to get out of the deprived state they are in at the present. He wants them to venture into the world that is on the map and experience the better things life has to offer them. The school classroom just keeps them in a deprived state and the condition itself of the class is sour and deprived. Kids must be provided with proper education so that it aids them in getting out of the lead sky they are so used to seeing. With proper encouragement, facilities, and optimism kids can achieve whatever they wish to and bless themselves with a future they dreamt of. They could live their life with enthusiasm, not tired from work or cursing the physical restriction they had.


English Flamingo Chapter 2 NCERT Solutions

NCERT Solutions Class 12 English Flamingo Poem Chapter 2- Free PDF Download

Through the reference of Class 12 English Poem Chapter 2 NCERT Solutions, students will get a thorough comprehension of the poem and all the important elements enlisted by the post. The Solutions will enable each student to frame short and descriptive answers. NCERT Solutions are accurate and reliable sources of reference which enables students to understand the answer pattern for all the potential questions that have a high chance in the exam.

NCERT Solutions for Poem An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum is an easy-to-understand, and credible source of reference and the brief summarization of the poem is updated here, in a comprehensive manner. Students can download these solutions from Vedantu for free, and access them at any time.

 

NCERT Solutions of Chapter 2- An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum

NCERT Solutions of Chapter 2- An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum is a beautiful poem written by Stephen Spender that dissipates the social injustices prevailing in the society. The Flamingo Poem Chapter 2 of Class 12 describes the piteous conditions of the kids studying in an elementary school located in a slum area. 

The poet tries to grasp everyone’s attention towards the students of this school so that their lives turntables and improves at significant heights. He wishes that the kids get enough training to lead a life like good citizens rather than criminals.

The poet requests all authorities to allow the kids to explore the world outside the slum, to visit locations and ensure that they experience the locations on the maps hanging on the walls of the classroom. The poet also wants the kids to experience and explore the warmth and sunny tan of beaches, the bright blue sky, and the green fields so that this experience quenches their thirst and hunger for knowledge, empowers them, and puts an end to the economic backwardness prevailing in the country. 

The poem ends with a powerful line ‘those who make history are the ones who shine like the Sun’ as a guidance statement for all those kids who want to break their barrier and taste success. 

 

NCERT Solutions: An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Class 12 English Poem - Weightage 

Poem Chapter 2 of English Flamingo Class 12 reveals the social inequalities prevailing in society, especially that rendered on the children. The overall weightage for English Flamingo Poem Chapter 2 for Class 12 is based on the objective-type questions, short answer type questions, long and explanatory answer type questions, and questions based on global comprehension along with analysis. The poem holds a weightage of 2 marks for short answers, six marks for long answers and questions that test the overall comprehension of the poem along with analysis, and eight marks for questions based on extracts, that is, reference to context. 

 

Benefits of NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Flamingo Poem 2

NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Flamingo Poem Chapter 2 is an easy and scoring chapter. With a brief comprehension of the poem, the poet’s message, and with regular practice, students can secure a good average in their board exams. A few of the important benefits of the NCERT Solutions for Chapter 5- An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum are as follows-

  • The NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Flamingo Poem Chapter 2 provides a comprehensive and detailed view of the poem prepared by subject experts and experienced teachers with several years of expertise in the field. 

  • The NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Flamingo Poem Chapter 2 offers in-depth analysis of all the fundamental concepts in simple and easy language. The solutions better your understanding of the poem in an efficient manner.   

  • The mock exercises, activities, and list of questions provided at the end of the Class 12 English Flamingo Poem Chapter 2 are designed according to the board exam and other common entrance exams like JEE, NEET paper pattern. NCERT Solutions enable students to answer questions efficiently without having to struggle through the exams.  

FAQs on NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Chapter 2 - An Elementary School Classroom In A Slum

1. Depict a contrast between the world of children and the decorations depicted in the classroom in the poem.

Ans: The decorations on the walls of the classrooms represent education, vastness, honour, beauty, and civility contrasting to the poverty-stricken and neglected kids. These kids lack freedom, education, beauty, development to explore the world, and promises of an unstable future. These decorations act as a temptation for them to take the wrong path to achieve such things. Thus, it juxtaposed the represented world and the confined, sealed reality of the kids in the same classroom.

2. How does the poet describe ‘their’ lives?

Ans: The poet describes the plight of the children stating that they have spent their entire lives living in a confined state, in crumpled holes like rodents. The children are victims of malnutrition just bony and skinny and look like broken pieces of a bottle scattered on stones. They have a bleak future with numerous uncertainties. The only certainty in their lives is an endless walk wandering for death. Thus, their birth, life, and death are all engulfed by the brink of darkness.

3. What is the theme of the poem “An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum”? How has it been presented?

Ans: An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum, written by Stephen Spender, is a wonderful poem that elucidates the multiple forms of social injustice rampant in our world. This poem illustrates the pitiful situation of the students studying in a dingy, crammed up elementary school classroom in a slum area. Spender has tried to draw people's attention to the terrible condition of the students in this school to improve their lives.

4. Despite despair and disease pervading the lives of the slum children, they are not devoid of hope. Give an example of their hope or dream.

Ans: The boy lost in the squirrel’s game is a striking example of the dreams and future hopes of the children studying in the elementary school classroom in the slum.The author is trying to say that despite all the hardships these children face, they haven’t lost all the hope. It is imperative for students to take a leaf from the boy’s book and try to inculcate the hope portrayed by him in our everyday life. For a more detailed explanation, you can view the free solutions for Chapter 2 of Flamingo available on Vedantu’s website and on the Vedantu app. Resources for further studying are also available on Vedantu’s website.

5. What do you understand by the paper seeming boy in the poem “An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum”? And, what does Shakespeare's head symbolize?

Ans: The paper seeming boy with rat’s eyes depicts the sick and spectre-thin, malnourished state that the boy is in. This elaborates how they have no access to the basic survival necessities of life such as food and healthcare. His eyes are of a rat, or a scavenger, that is continuously searching for food.


Shakespeare’s head is symbolic of the unattainable heights and preaching that is done in the classroom despite the absence of necessities required to sustain life.

6. What is the central idea of the poem “An Elementary School Classroom In A Slum”? What kind of teaching is imparted at the elementary school in the slum?

Ans: The central idea of the poem “An Elementary School Classroom In A Slum” is to showcase the sheer lack of all things considered necessary to live, including food and clean water. Stephen Spender provides an outstanding picture of the sorry state of the children studying and the difference our attitude towards them can make.


The teaching at the elementary school classroom is out of reach for most children. For them, it is just random words because they have never got the opportunity to step outside the slum. For children who don’t get enough food to fill their stomachs, Shakespeare is a far-fetched dream.

7. Which map is the poet talking about in the poem “An Elementary School Classroom In A Slum”? What plea has been made by the poet in the poem “An Elementary School Classroom In A Slum”?

Ans: The map stuck on the walls of the elementary school classroom is representative of the bounties and wonders of the outside world. This world remains out of reach for these slum children, because their aspirations and dreams are restricted only to this world of sadness and decay. Thus, Stephen Spender aptly refers to the map as a bad example. 


The poet’s plea is to the authorities to let the kids explore places beyond the slum, visit them as well as experience these locations drawn on the maps. Stephen Spender wants these children to experience and explore the warm sun on beaches, the blue sky, and the green grass to educate and empower them while ending their economic backwardness.