CLOZE TEST
Q.1-10. In the following passage there are blanks each of which has been numbered, these numbers are printed below the passage and against each five words have been suggested, one of which fits the blanks appropriately. Find out the appropriate word in each case.
We know several things about the Indian education system. First, it is extraordinarily inefficient. Public expenditures, regardless of whether they are adequate in aggregate, do not (1) results. Second, Indians desire education. They recognize its importance, and are willing to (2) for quality. Third, quality is difficult to (3), and public policy fails to help overcome this problem. Fourth, access to quality education is very unequal.
By now, we do not need more studies documenting these problems, unless they go beyond proximate causes and start to develop concrete solutions. We know that teachers in government schools often do not show up to (4), especially in rural areas. We know that the incentive systems in government bureaucracy, extending beyond the ministry of human resource development (HRD), are major (5) to the dysfunctions of the Indian education system. Under the (6) of maintaining standards and combating inequality, the education bureaucracy makes it harder for private providers to fill the gaps created by government failures.
We also know that India has little time to (7) these problems. The supposed demographic dividend is on the cusp of being a disaster, unless the education system is fixed. This fix cannot be done in a conventional manner. Hiring more school teachers or professors without (8) the entire incentive system will not work. That overhaul will take too long, especially for the extensive primary school system—without dealing with the formative years of education, nothing else can be fixed. There is more scope for rapid change at the university level, especially by bringing in talent from abroad, but even there, India’s politics will make change difficult.
The most promising solution lies in giving Indians digital access to knowledge, and to structured learning. There is nothing sacred about the conventional classroom. Indeed, we know that it has always been just a part of the necessary learning (9) that included peers and parents. The digital revolution has reached the point where (10) can provide more than passive information that has to be processed unaided by the individual to turn into knowledge. Instead, there are learning games, video lessons and myriad possibilities for interaction, that fundamentally change the way education can take place.
1.1. Achieve 2.negotiate 3.fulfill 4.dispatch 5.slander
2.1. Handle 2.diminish 3.confuse 4.pay 5.settlement
3.1. Derived 2.judge 3.values 4.destined 5.finds
4.1. Advice 2.exercise 3.teach 4.edited 5.insulate
5.1. Beginners 2.fans 3.hurdles 4.angel 5.contributors
6.1. Posture 2.literacy 3.aspect 4.guise 5.presence
7.1. Eased 2.fix 3.wander 4.mess 5.replicate
8.1. Ruining 2.sharpened 3.overhauling 4.connected 5.overtaking
9.1. Aura 2.barrage 3.status 4.property 5.environment
10.1. Teaches 2.everyone 3. Indians 4.technology 5.focus
ANSWERS
1. (1) Achieve
2. (4) Pay
3. (2) Judge
4. (3) Teach
5. (5) Contributors
6. (4) Guise
7. (2) Fix
8. (3) Overhauling
9. (5) Environment
10. (4) Technology
