UPSC Prelims 2023 CSAT Paper II · Q53 of 77 Comprehension medium

Passage

Passage – 3 Benefits of good quality school education accrue only when students complete and leave school after having acquired the gateway skills. Like one learns to walk before running, similarly one picks up advanced skills only after picking the basic foundational skills. The advent of the knowledge economy poses new challenges, and one of the severe consequences of having an uneducated workforce will be our inability to keep pace with the global economy. Without a strong learning foundation at the primary level, there can be no improvement in higher education or skill development.

Which one of the following statements best reflects the crux of the passage ?

  1. (a) To become a global power, India needs to invest in universal quality education. ✓ UPSC's answer
  2. (b) India is unable to become a global power because it is not focussing or promoting knowledge economy.
  3. (c) Our education system should focus more on imparting skills during higher education.
  4. (d) Parents of many school children are illiterate and are unaware of the benefits of quality education.

Why the answer is (a)

• The passage argues that the benefits of good quality school education are realized only when students acquire foundational 'gateway skills' before moving to advanced levels.

• It states that without a strong learning foundation at the primary level, there can be no improvement in higher education or skill development.

• The text links the lack of an educated workforce with the inability to keep pace with the global economy in the knowledge economy era.

• Therefore, the core argument is that investing in universal quality education, starting from the primary level, is essential for economic competitiveness and global standing.

• Option (a) best reflects this by stating that India needs to invest in universal quality education to become a global power, aligning with the passage's emphasis on foundational education for global economic pace.

Why the other options are wrong

(b) India is unable to become a global power because it is not focussing or promoting…
The passage states that an uneducated workforce leads to an inability to keep pace with the global economy, not that India is failing to focus on or promote the knowledge economy itself.
(c) Our education system should focus more on imparting skills during higher education.
The passage explicitly argues that without a strong foundation at the primary level, there can be no improvement in higher education, contradicting the idea that the focus should shift to higher education skills.
(d) Parents of many school children are illiterate and are unaware of the benefits of quality…
The passage does not mention the literacy levels of parents or their awareness of the benefits of quality education, making this option irrelevant to the text.

Asked in the CSAT Paper II of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2023, held on 28 May 2023. Question and answer key: Union Public Service Commission. Explanation: UPSC Answer Check.

Reading the answer is not the same as getting it right under a clock. Practise this question with UPSC's negative marking, and anything you miss goes into an error notebook until you get it right twice.

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