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

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

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum NCERT Text Book Questions and Answers

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Think it about

Question 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
Answer:
(i) is ill and exhausted

(b) The paper-seeming boy with rat’s eye means The boy is ………………
(i) shy and secretive
(ii) thin, hungry and weak
(iii) unpleasant looking
Answer:
(ii) thin, hungry and weak

(c) The stunted, unlucky heir of twisted bones means The boy …………
(i) has an inherited disability
(ii) was short and bony
Answer:
(i) has an inherited disability

(d) His eyes live in a dream. A squirrel’s game in the tree room other than this means. The boy is ……
(i) full of hope in the future
(ii) mentally ill
(iii) distracted from the lesson
Answer:
(iii) distracted from the lesson

(e) The children’s faces are compared to ‘rootless weeds’.
The means they
(i) are increase
(ii) are ill-fed
(iii) are wasters
Answer:
(iii) are wasters

Question 2.
What do you think is the colour of ‘sour cream’ ? Why do you think the poet has used his expression to describe the classroom walls ?
Answer:
Discolouration has set in on the walls of the classroom. The cream colour has faded. The fading colour of the walls matches with the faces of the children.

Question 3.
The walls of the classroom are decorated with the pictures of Shakespeare, ‘building with domes’, ‘world maps’ and beautiful valleys. How do these contrast with the world of these children ?
Answer:
The children live in a dismal world of poverty and hunger. They are in sharp contrast to the pictures of poets, big buildings and beautiful valleys.

Question 4.
What does the poet want for the children of the slums ? How can their lives be made to change ?
Answer:
The poet suggests that the slum children may be removed from their surroundings to green field and sea-beaches under the the open sky. They should also be provided with the facility to read and write and watch the beauties of nature. After all history be made by people who live a healthy and free life.

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Extra Questions and Answers

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Extra Questions Short Answer Type 

Question 1:
What change does the poet hope for in the lives of the slum children?
Answer:
Stephen Spender wants a better life for the children of the slums. He wants the officials to help these
poor children come out of their miserable surroundings. He wishes that these children should be given education, because education is the key to prosperity.

Question 2:
To whom does the poet in the poem, ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’ make an appeal?
What is his appeal?
Answer:
The poet makes an appeal to his readers, especially the educated and well-off people, to help the poor children of the slum come out and be freed from their miserable surroundings. His appeal is that these children should be given quality education, because education holds the key to their emancipation.

Question 3:
Which words/phrases in the poem ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’show that the slum children are suffering from acute malnutrition?
Answer:
The words or phrases in the poem which show that the slum children are suffering from acute malnutrition are, ‘the hair tom round their pallor’, ‘paper-seeming boy’, ‘stunted, unlucky heir of twisted bones’ and ‘wear skins peeped through by bones.’

Question 4:
What message does Stephen Spender convey through the poem, An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum?
Answer:
The poet wants freedom from a life of hunger and misery for the poor children. He wishes that the children should be provided with quality education. They should be brought out from their filthy surroundings into the comforting lap of nature.

Question 5:
How does the poet describe the classroom walls?
Answer:
The classroom walls are pale yellow and dirty. Donated items have been put up on these walls. All these are in complete contrast to the world of these children.

Question 6:
Why does Stephen Spender say that the pictures and maps in the elementary school classroom are not meaningful?
Answer:
The pictures that have been put up on the classroom walls depict the civilised world. The portrait of Shakespeare is useless to the slum children because they will never read his works. The world shown in the map is not their world. Their world is confined to the walls of their classroom and the slum in which they live. Thus they are not meaningful.

Question 7:
Have you ever visited or seen an elementary school in a slum? What does it look like?
Answer:
Yes, I have visited such a school; it was a government school. It was in a pitiful state. It did not have
even the basic amenities like properly working fans and lights. Broken windows, damaged doors, broken benches and dirty walls greeted the students. Many of the teachers did not conduct the classes regularly. Even the washrooms were dirty and without any water.

Question 8:
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?
Answer:
The colour of sour cream is pale yellow. The poet has used this expression to show the poor and grim environment of the classroom. Instead of bringing cheer to the unhappy existence of the children, these walls add to their misery and dreariness.

Question 9:
The walls of the classroom are decorated with the pictures of’Shakespeare’, ‘buildings with domes’, ‘world maps’and ‘beautiful valleys’. How do these contrast with the world of these children?
Answer:
‘Shakespeare’ symbolises the study of literature, ‘buildings and domes’ symbolise power and wealth, the world maps represent the world outside and ‘beautiful valleys’ refer to nature’s beauty and bounty. All these stand in sharp contrast to the dingy, dismal and gloomy atmosphere in which these slum children live.

Question 10:
What does the poet want for the children of the slums? How can their lives be made to change?
Answer:
The poet keenly desires these children to break the bonds of living a life of despair in the slum. They should not remain dejected, depressed and isolated from the rest of the world. Their lives can be made to change by the officials, who should come forward to educate the children properly, giving them opportunities to experience the outside world through a better education.

Question 11.
Bring out the theme of Spender’s poem, ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’. What light does it throw on the poet’s own attitude and convictions ?
Answer:
The theme of Spender’s poem is to highlight the plight of slum children. Their dark homes and neglected schools are like tombs for them. They are far removed from the sunshine of knowledge and a normal civilised life. They need to be removed from their unhealthy surroundings. The poem reflects the rage of the poet against sub-human conditions of millions of slum children.

Question 12.
Sum up the main ideas of Spender’s poem about slum children, their schooling and their future. Who does the poet appeal to for action ?
Answer:
The elementary school is being run in a semi-dark and neglected classroom. It is far from the open sea-shores and waves. The children attending the school look pitiable, pale and pathetic. Their growth is poor and their bones are twisted. They hunger for open air and free play in the forest.On the drab walls of the school are pasted a picture of Shakespeare and a world map. But this is a mockery of education.

The children growing in such dark, dirty hutments and unhealthy classrooms can never go round the world or read Shakespeare. Such pictures will only rouse a desire in them to see the world, the rivers and the oceans. Such pictures will make their lives more discontented and miserable.

Slum children live in small, dark holes. They play on garbage dumps. Their broken and repaired spectacles look like bits of glass bottle on the road. The maps of the civilised world don’t show any slums. The children, it appears, are buried in their tombs of little dark huts. It is a crime to let them rot there.

They can be turned into useful citizens if they are removed from their unhealthy atmosphere, taken to green fields and given proper education. The rulers and teachers can get it done. After all, history is made only by freedom loving and intelligent people.

Question 13.
From the depths of his moral convictions, Spender writes about the unsung fighters. Who are they ?
Answer:
The unsung fighters as envisaged by Spender are the children growing up in the slums and getting their schooling there. Spender is deeply concerned about the next generation whose future is blocked in the slum areas. They need to be brought out in the sun so that they grow and prosper.

Question 14.
Though the students live in the slums, in the shadow of the Second World War, Spender brings out the flowering of the spirit of a greater humanity. How does he achieve this ?
Answer:
Jhuggis are like pock-marks on the face of every big city. They are breeding ground of unwanted children who feed on the filth and who take to crimes. The school has a large bunch of silent sufferers. But one child in the last row has got dreams. He wants to play freely, see green fields and feel the sun. Such sweet and young children need to be taken care of for the betterment of human race.

Question 15.
The writer suggests that the children’s lives will be very dark, narrow and unfulfilled unless they are educated and can remove themselves from the area in which they live. He has metaphors to reflect the contrasting possibilities that lie ahead for the children. Explain these metaphors.
Answer:
The children born and brought up in slums have a dark future. They can grow to full height if they get out of the dark, narrow lanes and see the world. It is the duty of rulers and teachers to show them green fields and let them play on golden sands, and expose them to the world of books. Only those who grow in the light of the knowledge and warmth of the sun make history.

Question 16.
In the opening stanza the imagery is that of despair and disease. Read the poem and underline the words that bring out these images.
Answer:

• Children’s face like rootless weeds.
• The papers seeming boy with rat’s eyes.
• The stunted unlucky heir of twisted bones.

Question 17.
Stephen Spender while writing about an elementary classroom in a slum questions the value of education in such a milaeu, suggesting that maps of the world and good literature may raise hopes and aspirations, which will never he fulfilled. Yet the poem offers a solution/hope. What is it ?
Answer:
The poet presents a grim picture of dark slums and narrow streets, fog and darkness and filth. There can be no teaching and no learning in such an unhealthy atmosphere, Shakespeare’s plays and the world map, literature and geography are meaningless for slum children.

These only make them more unhappy and dejected, because they have no scope for world tour and higher education. The poet offers a solution and hope to such god-forsaken children : Expose them to better life and better places, to sunshine and open air. Only the teachers and governors can provide such facilities.

Question 18.
In this poem, without being didactic, Spender interprets the poverty- stricken yet onward struggling men. Justify.
Answer:
Spender presents a grim realistic picture of the children growing in slums and attending the dark elementary schools there. They have never moved out of those dirty settlements. Poverty is the greatest curse for them. But this situation can be improved. There is a solution to the problem. This privileged class can provide facilities for the slum children. The first step is to improve the quality of life, in the slums. The next is to take the kids out of darkness to sunny and green places.

Question 19.
Why does Spender call Shakespeare wicked and the map a bad example ?
Answer:
Shakespeare was a scholar. The world map shows only big cities. These are out of place in the dark, drab classrooms. They only tempt the slum children to cry for the moon, something beyond their reach.

Question 20.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions :
And yet, for these
Children, these windows, not this map, their world,
Where all their future’s painted with a fog,
A narrow street sealed in with c lead sky.

Far Far from rivers, capes and stars of words.
(a) What does the map on the wall signify ?
(b) Who are these children ? What is their world like ?
(c) What kind of future does the poet foresee for them ?
Answer:
(a) The map on the wall signifies that they do not belong to the world depicted in the map.
(b) These are slum children. Their world is like a narrow street with a lead sky. They can’t even see stars.
(c) The poet thinks that they can be turned into useful citizens by providing them proper education. The rulers and teachers can get it done.

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Extra Questions Long Answer Type 

Question 1:
Bring out the significance of the sense of dejection and despair in the poem, ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum.’
Answer:
The poet vents his dejection and despair in the numbing poverty of the life of the slum children in the poem. These children are ‘rootless’ as they lack stability in their lives. They are insecure and ill-fed, living a miserable life of pain and despair. The sour cream colour of their school walls reflects the despondent look of these students. They lack the usual exuberance of life.

They suffer the agony of being unwanted in their small world of the slums Their world is far removed from the outer world that is represented in school books, maps, picture of a Tyrolese valley and of Shakespeare. Education has shown them the path of liberation but they are ironically caught in a situation where their education only makes them aware of their miserly existence.

Question 2:
Why do you think Shakespeare is ‘wicked’ and the map ‘a bad example’ to these children?
Answer:
The study and the portrait of Shakespeare is wicked because these children fail to understand the true value of Shakespeare in English literature, as no quality education is imparted in this elementary school classroom in a slum. This school is different from other normal schools, where the study of Shakespeare is conducted properly, giving the children a constructive education.

The map of the world with its colourful projections of the earth is also a bad example to these slum children because they imagine the world from the maps and understand the fact that their world is different from that of the maps. Their future is dark and they live in a perpetual state of gloom, hunger and despair.

Question 3:
Analyse the poetic devices used in the poem.
Answer:
The poet has aptly used the imagery of despair and disease in the first stanza. The poet has employed a simile in the explicit comparison between the children’s faces and the rootless weeds, as these children are like weeds without any root or proper origin.

The description of the dim and pathetic classroom with its ‘sour cream’ walls is rich in visual imagery of colours. The walls that have turned yellowish suggests the pale existence of these children. The phrase ‘Break O Break’ consists of repetition to poetically emphasise the need of these children to come out into the outer world. There is rich colourful imagery in the line “Run azure on gold sands” which brings out the note of optimism and emancipation for these children to visualise the azure blue sky, the golden sands on the beaches and the deserts on the earth.

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Extra Questions Extract Based Type

I. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.

Far far from gusty waves these children’s faces.
Like rootless weeds, the hair torn round their pallor:
The tall girl with her weighed-down head.

Question 1:
Who are these children?
Answer:
These children are the poor children who live in the slum.

Question 2:
What does the poet mean by ‘gusty waves’?
Answer:
By ‘gusty waves’ the poet means the beautiful sights of nature which are not visible in the slum.

Question 3:
What has possibly weighed down the tall girl’s head?
Answer:
The tall girl’s head has possibly been weighed down by being burdened with sad thoughts about her misfortune, which is making her feel depressed.

Question 4:
Identify the figure of speech used in these lines.
Answer:
Simile is used in these lines when the unkempt hair is compared to rootless weeds.

II. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.

“The stunted unlucky heir
Of twisted bones, reciting a father’s gnarled disease,
His lesson, from his desk. At back of the dim class
One unnoted, sweet and young. His eyes live in a dream,
Of squirrel’s game, in tree room, other than this.”

Question 1:
Who is the unlucky heir?
Answer:
The boy who has a stunted growth with twisted bones, sitting in the slum school classroom, is the ‘unlucky heir’.

Question 2:
What has he inherited?
Answer:
He has inherited the arthritis of his father; as a result his growth remains stunted.

Question 3:
Who is sitting at the back of the dim class?
Answer:
A sweet young boy is sitting at the back of the dim class. He is daydreaming of squirrels playing in a tree.

Question 4:
What quality of the unlucky heir is depicted in the stanza?
Answer:
The unlucky heir is depicted with twisted bones which he has inherited from his father, who suffers from arthritis.

III. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.

At back of the dim class
One unnoted, sweet and young.
His eyes live in a dream,
Of squirrel’s game, in tree room, other than this.

Question 1:
Why is the class dim?
Answer:
‘Class’ refers to the classroom which is dark and dingy, as it is in a slum school, where nobody cares for the lighting. ‘Dim’ is also used to denote the future of these children in the class.

Question 2:
Why is the child called ‘sweet and young?
Answer:
The child is called ‘sweet and young’ probably because he is an innocent child who is not concerned with what is going on in the classroom. Instead, he is daydreaming.

Question 3:
What does the child want to enjoy?
Answer:
The child wants to enjoy seeing squirrels playing in the tree outside the classroom.

Question 4:
What is the significance of the phrase, ‘other than this?
Answer:
‘This’ refers to the classroom, which does not interest the boy. He wants to go elsewhere, particularly outside, where the squirrels are playing in the tree.

IV. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.

“On sour cream walls, donations. Shakespeare’s head,
Cloudless at dawn, civilised dome riding all cities.
Belled, flowery, Tyrolese valley. Open-handed map
Awarding the world its world.”

Question 1:
What is the colour of the walls?
Answer:
The colour of the walls is pale yellow, like sour cream.

Question 2:
What has been put up on the walls and why?
Answer:
Various donated items have been put up on the walls of the classroom as the school cannot afford to buy them. These include a portrait of Shakespeare, a picture of the beautiful Tyrolese valley and a world map.

Question 3:
Explain ‘Awarding the world its world’.
Answer:
The map with its scaled representation divides the world into countries, big and small. It forms the world with boundaries as we know it, thus awarding the world its world in a miniature form.

V. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.

“And yet, for these
Children, these windows, not this map, their world,
Where all their future is painted with fog,
A narrow street sealed in with a lead sky Far far from rivers, capes and stars of words.”

Question 1:
Who are the ‘children’ referred to here?
Answer:
The ‘children’ referred to here are the poor children living in the slum.

Question 2:
Which is their world?
Answer:
Their world is the dull and unpleasant classroom and its windows amongst the dirty surroundings of the slum. ‘

Question 3:
How is their life different from that of other children?
Answer:
The children of the slum are emaciated and poverty-stricken, as against the other children who are healthy and have all the comforts and luxuries of life. The life of the slum children is filled with darkness and hopelessness.

Question 4:
Why is the future of these children ‘painted with a fog?
Answer:
The future of these children is dark and uncertain, meaning that it cannot be seen. So, the poet says that it is ‘painted with a fog.’

VI. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.

“With ships and sun and love tempting them to steal—
For lives that slyly turn in their cramped holes
From fog to endless night?”

Question 1:
Who are them’referred to in the first line?
Answer:
Them here refers to the poor, emaciated children of the slum.

Question 2:
What tempts them?
Answer:
They are tempted by all the beautiful things of the world, the luxuries and the lifestyle that the rich enjoy. They are tempted to steal them, as they cannot possess these otherwise.

Question 3:
What does the poet say about ‘their’ lives?
Answer:
The children of the slum live amidst dirty surroundings in cramped houses which are dark and unpleasant. The poet is not happy with the way these children are compelled to live.

Question 4:
What do you understand by from fog to endless night?
Answer:
‘From fog to endless night’ means from morning till night. The poor children of the slum have a miserable existence; they suffer from morning to night everyday.

VII. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.

On their slag heap, these children
Wear skins peeped through by bones and spectacles of steel
With mended glass, like bottle bits on stones.

Question 1:
Who are these children?
Answer:
These children are the poor children who live in the slum.

Question 2:
What is their slag heap?
Answer:
Their slag heap refers to the hunger-stricken bodies of the children, which look just like heaps of garbage.

Question 3:
Why are their bones peeping through their skins?
Answer:
Their bones are visible under their skins because they are malnourished and very thin.

Question 4:
What does ‘with mended glass’ mean?
Answer:
The phrase,’with mended glass’ means that the glass of the spectacles had cracked and the pieces had been stuck together, instead of getting a new glass. This is another sign of their poverty.

VIII. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.

“Break O break open till they break the town
And show the children to green fields, and make their world
Run azure on gold sands, and let their tongues
Run naked into books the white and green leaves open
History theirs whose language is the sun.”

Question 1:
What is meant by ‘Break 0 break?
Answer:
The poet wants to bring these children out of their filthy surroundings. He wants them to break the shackles that this slum has put on them, so that they can see the outside world.

Question 2:
Who are they?
Answer:
‘They’ refers to the poor, emaciated children of the slum.

Question 3:
What does the poet want for them?
Answer:
The poet wants that these children should be properly educated, because, according to him, history is written by those whose language has the energy and warmth of the sun.

Question 4:
Explain ’till they break the town’.
Answer:
The poet wishes the children to break the shackles of the slum so that they can come out of their dirty surroundings into an open area of freedom.

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Extra Questions Value Based Type

Question 1:
Bring out the irony In the system of, education of the slum children with reference to the poem.
Answer:
The poem ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’ deals with the theme of social injustice and class inequalities in our society, the irony that is rooted in the marginalised existence of these slum children and their poor system of education. The poet has reflected this irony in saying that these children, as they read, run their tongues naked into the books because they do not understand the meaning of the words and blankly utter the sentences.

They fail to understand the true message of education contained in the books. Their spectacles are like ‘bottle bits’ suggesting the poverty of their lives. It is a poetic appeal to the people in authority, like the governor, inspector and visitor, to rescue these oppressed children from their limited lives of ignorance and gloom. The poet wishes for the emancipation of these imprisoned minds into a new world of freedom and happiness.

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Extra Questions Miscellaneous Type 

Tick the item which best answers the following.

Question 1.
‘The tall girl with her head weighed-down’ means the girl
(a) is ill and exhausted.
(b) has her head bent with shame,
(c) has untidy hair.
Answer:
(a) is ill and exhausted.

Question 2.
The paper seeming boy with rat’s eyes’ means the boy is
(a) thin, hungry and weak,
(b) sly and secretive.
(c) unpleasant looking.
Answer:
(a) thin, hungry and weak,

Question 3.
The stunted unlucky heir of twisted bones’ means the boy ‘
(a) has an inherited disability.
(b) was short and bony.
Answer:
(a) has an inherited disability.

Question 4.
‘His eyes live in a dream. A squirrel’s game, in the tree room other than this’ means the boy is
(a) full of hope in the future,
(b) mentally ill.
(c) distracted from the lesson.
Answer:
(c) distracted from the lesson.

Question 5.
The children’s faces are compared to ‘rootless weeds’. This means they
(a) are insecure.
(b) are ill-fed.
(c) are wasters.
Answer:
a) are insecure

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum About the poem

Every big city has big sprawling slums. They are the breeding ground for mosquitoes, diseases and crimes. They are dark, dirty and congested cluster of jhuggis. They are an eyesore for the privileged class. Yet they are essential for servicing the rich. The poet sees, some slum children sitting in a classroom. They look like rootless weeds, with rat’s eyes, dwarf-like and with twisted bones.

Their future is dark. But amidst them are a few who dream of escape to an open space. It is silly to put up Shakespeare and the world map on the walls. These only make them all the more discontented and unhappy.The poet suggests a solution. The authorities should remove these children to a healthy place for their education and upbringing. Then alone we can expect some heroes to be created out of the lot. Only healthy people, both in body and mind, can dream high and create history.

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Summary in English

Here is a pathetic picture of children studying in an elementary or primary school in , a slum. The poet is deeply moved by the plight of little kids. They are living and studying in a very unhealthy atmosphere. They are far from the sea side where the stormy sturdy waves rise and fall. The children’s faces look like withering unwanted plants. Their hair lie scattered on their pale faces. One tall girl sits with her sinking head. The bony boy is as thin and weak as a sheet of paper. He has got small dull eyes of a rat. His growth is poor. This is because of the physique of his father who is a victim of some disease. His bones are twisted and knotty.

But in the last bench of the poorly lit classroom sits another sweet and young boy. He is disinterested in his lesson. He has got some childlike dreams in his eyes. He wants to escape out, climb the trees and play like squirrels. On the faded cream coloured walls of the classroom are painted the names of donors, the picture of Shakespeare, a clear cloudless sky in the morning, spread like a dome over the civilised world.

The map of the world has got a flowery border and it shows lovely hills and valleys. It is the outline map of the world of cities. But there is no mention of the slums, country side and the starving children. For slum children, the world is limited to what they can see through the open window of the classroom. They have no hope of a sunny future.

It is darkened with the fog of poverty and pain. They live in some hutment in a narrow lane of the slum. They can see only a dull dreary sky from their basti, very far from rivers, seas and learning.It is bad to show these deprived children the picture of Shakespeare, the star of words, and the map of the civilised world.

These will only intensify their pain. They will be tempted to go round the world and enjoy the plays of Shakespeare. But they are not fated for such luxuries. They may never see the ships, feel the warmth of the sun and the thrill of love. They will spend their lives in their small shacks, and play on the pile of hot melted rocks of the volcano.

They are unnourished and poorly protected against cold. Their bones seem to peep through their thin, fatless skins. The powered glasses on their steel frame spectacles are broken and repaired looking like bits of broken bottles on the roadside. They spend all their time in their narrow streets and small huts, with poor natural light. So the maps in their classroom should be marked with slums, as big as death itself.

The poet warns that slum children’s lives will remain dark and unfulfilled unless they are removed from their dark areas and educated properly. The state can do it. Their dark classrooms and shacks are closing in on them, like tombs. Let the new generation kids see green fields, run on golden sands on sea-shore and read books with keen interest. Only the dead can live in tomb-like slums. Heroes are not born there. History is created by those who grow healthily, in body and mind, in sunny areas.

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Summary in Hindi

इस कविता में हमें उन बच्चों की कारुणिक तस्वीरें मिलती हैं जो झोंपड़पट्टी के किसी प्राथमिक स्कूल में शिक्षा पा रहे हैं। कवि इन छोटे बच्चों की दयनीय दशा देखकर बहुत दुःखी होता है। वे स्वास्थ्य के लिये हानिकारक वातावरण में रह रहे हैं तथा पढ़ रहे हैं। वे समुद्री तट से दूर हैं जहाँ तूफानी लहरें उठती-गिरती रहती हैं। इन बच्चों के चेहरे जैसे मुरझाते अवांछित पौधों की तरह दिखाई दे रहे हैं। उनके उलझे हुए बाल उनके पीले चेहरे पर बिखरे हैं। लम्बे कद की एक लड़की अपना सिर झुकाये बैठी है।

यह हड़ीला बालक इतना दुबला-पतला तथा कमजोर है जैसे कोई कागज का टुकड़ा हो। उसकी आँखें चूहे की जैसी छोटी तथा निस्तेज हैं। उसका विकास नहीं हो पाया है। इसका कारण है उसके पिता का स्वास्थ्य जो किसी बीमारी का शिकार है। उसकी हड्डियाँ टेढ़ी-मेढ़ी तथा गठीली हो गई हैं। पर इस कम रोशनी वाले कमरे में एक प्यारा, छोटा बालक आखिरी बेंच पर बैठा है। उसे पाठ पढ़ने से अरुचि है।

उसकी आँखों में बालपन के सपने हैं। वह यहाँ से बाहर जाकर वृक्षों पर चढ़ना तथा गिलहरियों का खेल खेलना चाहता है। कक्षा की मटमैली क्रीम रंग से पुती दीवार पर दानदाताओं के नाम लिखे हैं, शेक्सपीयर का चित्र बना है, प्रातः का निर्मल आकाश है जो एक गुम्बद की तरह सभ्य संसार के ऊपर टैंगा है। विश्व के मानचित्र में फूलों का बार्डर बना है तथा उसमें भारी पहाड़ियाँ एवं घाटियाँ दिखाई गई हैं। यह तो विश्व के नगरों का मानचित्र है। पर इसमें झोपड़पट्टी, ग्रामीण अंचल तथा भूखे बच्चों का कोई जिक्र नहीं है।

झोंपड़पट्टी के बच्चों की दुनिया वहाँ तक सीमित है जहाँ तक खिड़की के बाहर उनकी दृष्टि देख सकती है। उनकी किस्मत में कोई सुनहरा भविष्य नहीं है। उस पर दरिद्रता तथा पीड़ा की काली धुंध छायी हुई है। ये बच्चे एक तंग गली में स्थित किसी झोपड़ी में रहते हैं। उस बस्ती के बीच में से वे केवल मलिन, नीरस आकाश ही देख सकते हैं जो नदियों, सागरों तथा ज्ञान की दुनिया से दूर है।

इन गरीब वंचित बच्चों को शेक्सपीयर, जो शब्दों का बादशाह था, तथा सभ्य संसार का मानचित्र दिखाना उचित नहीं। ये चीजें तो उनकी पीड़ा को और घना कर देंगी। उन्हें भी विश्व दर्शन करने तथा शेक्सपीयर के नाटक देखने-समझने की इच्छा होने लगेगी। पर उनकी किस्मत में ये भोग-विलास की चीजें कहाँ ? वे शायद कभी भी जलपोतों को न देख पायें, सूर्य का ताप महसूस न कर पायें और प्यार का रोमांच भी महसूस न कर पायें। वे अपना सारा जीवन अपनी छोटी झोंपड़ी में बितायेंगे तथा ज्वालामुखी की तपती पिघली चट्टानों पर खेला करेंगे। वे कुपोषित हैं, उनके पास शीत से बचाव के लिये पर्याप्त वस्त्र भी नहीं है।

उनकी हड्डियाँ, उनकी पतली वसारहित त्वचा के अन्दर से झाँकती हैं। उनके नाक पर लोहे के फ्रेम वाला चश्मा रखा है और उसके शीशे टूटे और मरम्मत किये हुए हैं। ये शीशे ऐसे लगते हैं जैसे सड़क के किनारे पड़े किसी बोतल के काँच के टुकड़े हों। वे अपना सारा समय इन्हीं संकरी गलियों तथा छोटी-सी झोंपड़ी में बिताते हैं जहाँ प्राकृतिक रोशनी दुर्लभ है। इसलिए उनकी कक्षा में टैंगे मानचित्र पर झोंपड़-पट्टियाँ बना दी जायें, इतनी विशाल जितनी कि स्वयं मृत्यु है।

कवि चेतावनी देता है कि झुग्गी बस्ती में रहने वाले बच्चे अंधेरे में अधूरा जीवन बिताते रह जायेंगे जब तक उन्हें अंधेरों से बाहर निकालकर सही शिक्षा नहीं दी जाती। राज्य सरकार यह काम कर सकती है। अंधेरे कक्षा-कक्ष तथा झोंपड़ियाँ इनको अपने अन्दर ऐसे निगले जा रहे हैं जैसे वे कब्र हों। आओ नई पीढ़ी के इन बच्चों को हरे-भरे खेत दिखायें, उन्हें समुद्र तट पर फैली सुनहरी रेत पर दौड़ने दें, तथा पुस्तकों को रुचिपूर्वक पढ़ने दें। कब्र जैसी झोपड़पट्टी में तो केवल मुर्दे ही पड़े रह सकते हैं। वीर योद्धा या महान व्यक्ति वहाँ जन्म नहीं लेते। इतिहास की रचना केवल वही व्यक्ति करते हैं जो तन और मन से खुले मैदानों में स्वस्थ तरीके से बड़े होते हैं।

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Extracts for comprehension

Read the extracts carefully and answer the questions that follow :

Stanza I

Far far from gusty waves these children’s faces
Like rootless weeds, the hair torn around their pallor;
The tali girl with her weighed-down head. The paper
seeming boy, with rat’s eyes. The stunted, unlucky heir
of twisted bones, reciting a father’s gnarled disease,
His lesson, from his desk. At back of the dim class
One unnoted, sweet and young. His eyes live in a dream,
of squirrel’s game, in tree room, other than this. (Page 92)

(उफनाती लहरों से दूर बिल्कुल उलटी, इन बच्चों के चेहरे जैसे जड़ से उखड़े घासपात की तरह हैं, इनके बाल उनके पीले पड़े चेहरे पर बिखरे हैं, लम्बे कद वाली लड़की का सिर जैसे बोझ से झुका हुआ। एक लड़का इतना दुबला-पतला, कमजोर जैसे कागज, उसकी चूहे जैसी छोटी आँखें। नाटे कद के इस अभागे बालक ने अपने पिता की ऐंठी हुई, ग्रंथिवाली हड्डियों को विरासत में पाया है, वह पिता के ऐंठे शरीर को ही दोहराता हुआ अपनी डेस्क पर बैठा पाठ पढ़ रहा है। इस धुंधलके वाले कमरे में पीछे की ओर एक अन्य बालक है-प्यारा-सा, छोटा-सा, उसकी आँखों में गिलहरियों का खेल खेलने का सपना है, वृक्षों पर, अपने इस स्कूल के कमरे से भिन्न…… ।

Question:
(i) Name the poem and the poet.
(ii) Who does the poet describe in these lines ?
(iii) Even in such a dreary place, the poet sees a dreaming child. What does he mean to underline through this contrast ?
Answers :
(i) The poem is An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum, written by Stephen Spender.
(ii) The poet depicts the pitiable looks and bleak future of slum children.
(iii) The children in general are paper-thin, dwarf-like and worthless weeds. But one boy still has dreams of playing freely in the forest.

Stanza II

On sour cream walls, donations, Shakespeare’s head,
Cloudless at dawn, civilized dome riding all cities
Belled, flowery, Tyrolese valley, Open-handed map
Awarding the world its world. And yet, for these
Children, these windows, not this map, their world,
Where all their future’s painted with a fog,
A narrow street sealed in with a lead sky,
Far far from rivers, capes, and stars of words.

(फीकी पड़ी दीवारों पर, दानवीरों के नाम अंकित हैं। शेक्सपीयर का चित्र लटका है। चमकते ग्लोब पर सम्पूर्ण संसार में सभी बड़े नगरों को दर्शाया गया है। इस पर घंटियाँ हैं, सजावट है, टीरोलीस घाटी है। यह नक्शा दुनिया को उनका अपना आकार या रूप प्रदान करता है। पर मलिन बस्ती के इन बच्चों के लिए वह नक्शे वाला संसार नहीं है, इनका संसार तो उतना ही है जो कक्षा की खिड़कियों से बाहर दिखाई देता है, इस संसार में इनका कोई भविष्य नहीं, उस पर तो धुंध चढ़ी हुई है। ये एक तंग गली में बंद हैं जहाँ से धूसर सीसा जैसा आकाश दिखता है। इन लोगों की किस्मत में नहीं कि ये नदियों, अंतरीपों तथा ज्ञान-सागर को देख पायें।

Question:
(i) How does the poet portray the pathetic condition of the slum school as well as the children ?
(ii) Why does the poet refer to Shakespeare and the world map ?
(iii) Explain :

• Awarding the world its world.
• All their future’s painted with a fog.

Answers :
(i) The school classroom is in ruins. The children studying there are bony, have rat’s eyes and dark future.
(ii) The bust of Shakespeare painted on the wall and the map of the world seem to be mocking at the slum children. These children can never hope to see the wide world or read Shakespeare.
(iii)

• The map is meant for the city folk who are well-off.
• But these children have no hope, no light in their lives.

Stanza III

Surely, Shakespeare is wicked, the map a bad example,
With ships and sun and love tempting them to steal
For lives that slyly turn in their cramped holes
From fog to endless night ? On their slag heap, these children
Wear skins peeped through by bones and spectacles of steel
With mended glass, like bottle bits on stones
All of their time and space are foggy slum.
So blot their maps with slums as big as doom. (Page 93)

(निश्चित रूप से कक्षा की दीवार पर शेक्सपीयर का रोल गंदा है, दुष्टतापूर्ण है तथा गोलार्द्ध या विश्व मानचित्र भी हानिकर है जिसमें जहाज, सूर्य तथा प्यार है, कारण यह है कि शिक्षा तथा विश्व के मानचित्र इन बच्चों के मन में लालसा पैदा कर देते हैं कि वे भी विश्व-भ्रमण करें, अच्छा जीवन बिताएं। इनका जीवन तो उन सिकुड़े झोपड़ों में चुपके से तड़पता रहता है, धुंध वाली प्रातः से लंबी अंधेरी रात तक। अपने कूड़े के ढेर पर बैठे इन बच्चों की हड्डियाँ उनके पतले, सूखे चर्म के पीछे से झाँकती हैं, तथा जोड़े गये शीशे वाले इनके चश्मे ऐसे दिखते हैं जैसे पत्थर पर पड़ी काँच की बोतल के टुकड़े। इन बच्चों का सारा समय जीवन और इनकी दुनिया यहीं अंधेरे वाली झोंपड़पट्टी है, इसलिए इनकी बस्ती को मानचित्र से ही मिटा दो, ये बस्तियाँ तो इतनी बड़ी हैं जितनी कि कयामत या सर्वनाश या प्रलय।

Question:
(i) Why does the poet downplay Shakespeare and the world map ?
(ii) How does the poet describe children in a slum school ?
(iii) Bring out one example of a simile in the above extract.
(iv) What does the poem tell you about the poet’s attitude ?
Answers :
(i) Shakespeare was a scholar. The world map shows only big cities. These are out of place in the dark, drab classroom. They only tempt the slum children to cry for the moon, something beyond their reach.
(ii) The children studying in a slum school cannot learn anything in the unhealthy atmosphere. No social activist will bother to improve the lot of these deprived children.
(iii) The mended glasses of their spectacles look like the broken bits of glass bottle on the pavement (Simile).
(iii) The poet is deeply concerned about the dismal life and future of slum children. He urges the rulers and teachers to remove these unfortunate children from their dark hutments and schools.

Stanza IV

Unless, governor, inspector, visitor,
This map becomes their window and these windows
That shut upon their lives like catacombs,
Break O break open till they break the town
And show the children to green fields, and make their world
Run azure on gold sands, and let their tongues
Run naked into books, the white and green leaves open
History is theirs whose language is the sun. (Page 93)

[जब तक गवर्नर (राज्य), इंस्पेक्टर तथा आम जनता इन बच्चों को कब्रों से बाहर नहीं निकालते, इनकी दुनिया को विस्तृत नहीं करते, इन मानचित्रों को इन्हें सैर कराकर नहीं दिखाते, जबतक इन बच्चों को हरे-भरे खेत नहीं दिखाये जाते, इन्हें समुद्र तट की सुनहरी रेत पर नहीं घुमाया जाता, उनकी पुस्तकें पढ़ने-समझने की क्षमता विकसित नहीं की जाती, प्रकृति से इनका आमना-सामना नहीं कराया जाता, इन बच्चों के जीने का कोई लाभ नहीं। नया इतिहास तो वही लोग रचते हैं जो प्रकाश में रहते, विकसित होते हैं।

Question:
(i) What does the map of the world become for the slum children ?
(ii) What is the poet’s appeal to the upper class people ?
(iii) Explain : History is theirs whose language is the sun

Answer:
(i) The map of the world is the only window of the slum children on the vast world. They will remain imprisoned in their dark dirty world.
(ii) The poet urges the teachers and rulers to bring some light into the lives of the slum children. They may take them to green fields and golden beaches. They may be imparted education in a healthy atmosphere.
(iii) History can be made and studied only in the sunshine of knowledge and better living conditions.

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