Passage

Directions for the following 4 (four) items : Read the following passage and answer the four items that follow. Your answers to these items should be based on the passage only. Passage 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

According to the passage, which of the following is/are of paramount importance under the Right to Education? 1. Sending of children to school by all parents 2. Provision of adequate physical infrastructure in schools 3. Curricular reforms for developing child-friendly learning system Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1 only
(b) 1 and 2 only
(c) 3 only ✓ UPSC's answer
(d) None of the above

Why the answer is (c)

• The passage states that merely making schooling facilities available (infrastructure) is an 'essential prerequisite' but 'insufficient' to ensure participation, ruling out statement 2 as paramount on its own.

• It explicitly mentions that the focus must be on addressing social, economic, and cultural issues to ensure attendance, rather than placing the primary burden on parents to send children, which makes statement 1 incorrect in this context.

• The text emphasizes that 'quality is an integral part of the right to education' and that the Act requires a 'massive programme for curricular reform' to provide a 'child-friendly learning system'.

• Therefore, curricular reforms for a child-friendly learning system are identified as the critical component for ensuring the right to quality education, making statement 3 the only correct option.

Why the other options are wrong

(a) 1 only: Statement 1 is incorrect because the passage focuses on systemic and social factors preventing attendance rather than parental obligation, and it excludes the crucial element of curricular reform.
(b) 1 and 2 only: Statement 2 is incorrect because the passage explicitly states that physical infrastructure is insufficient on its own, and the option fails to include the paramount importance of curricular reform.
(d) None of the above: This option is incorrect because statement 3 is explicitly supported by the passage as a necessary component for ensuring quality education under the Right to Education.

Asked in the CSAT Paper II of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2018, held on 3 June 2018. Question and answer key: Union Public Service Commission. Explanation: UPSC Answer Check.