The United Kingdom’s Social Mobility Commission study reports that disadvantaged children in England are being priced out of a cultural hinterland. Children aged 10-15 from low-income families are three times less likely than wealthier peers to engage in out-of-school musical activities, such as learning an instrument etc.
There were also differences according to race - 4% of British Pakistani children took part in music classes, compared with 28% of Indian children and 20% of white children - and regional divides: 9% of children in north-east England played a musical instrument, compared with 22% in the south-east.
Disadvantaged children are also more likely to miss out on extracurricular sports (football, boxing, cricket) and drama, dance and art. The commission set out recommendations, including bursaries, better funding and support for schools - let’s hope they’re taken on board. As well as the activities themselves, children are missing out on other crucial gains including confidence-building, team spirit and social skill, and are less likely to go on to higher education.
Extracurricular activities tend to cost money, but there are also problems with a lack of availability and access, such as schools being unable to afford to run after-school clubs or stay open during holidays. Another barrier is the kids’ “fear of not fitting in”. In this sense, certain children are self-excluding from, say, learning an instrument, singing in a choir, playing cricket or acting. They decide by themselves that they’re “undeserving” of music, sport, art and drama. Unbelievably, in 2019, children as young as 10 are already hardwired with the selflimiting poverty notion of “not for the likes of us”.
This is heartbreaking. It’s hardly news that life is tougher for poorer children, but it’s an outrage if all sense of curiosity, artistry and playfulness is knocked out of them so early. Something is wrong if better-off children feel entitled to explore and participate in areas that interest and excite them, while the disadvantaged are cast from the start as cultural wallflowers - doomed to sit out every dance.
This isn’t about every child learning the piano or violin (but why not?), it’s about sowing the seeds for a cultural hinterland that will sustain and enrich them for life. It’s about people exploring their passions and refusing to have their horizons artificially limited. Regardless of circumstances, all children should know that their faces “fit” - automatically and forever. Culture belongs to everyone.
SSC CGL 2019121)According to the author, what is truly heart- breaking and damaging for the kids is that -
children themselves feel that the activities are not fit for the likes of them.
Instructions:
Read the following passage and answer the questions given after it.Comprehension:
Nothing, not even the angry, red eruptions on her face and body, will stop Sneha from aiming for her “dream job”. “I love the Indian Army,” says the 18-year-old, as she sits by herself under one of the canopies at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Stadium of the Maratha Light Infantry Regimental Centre in Belagavi, Karnataka. Outside the enclosure, around 35 women run on the 400-m track.
A day earlier, Sneha had cleared her ground tests — a 1.6-km race that had to be completed in eight minutes or less, high jump and long jump — and physical fitness tests, when she was diagnosed with chickenpox. Now on medication for the pox, she is back at the stadium for a medical examination as part of the recruitment process. As she waits for her turn, isolated from the other women, Sneha, says, “I had no fever when I left home in Kerala. Even when I reached Belagavi and got these pimples, I did not think much of it. So I came for my physical and ground tests.”
Accompanied by her mother and uncle, Sneha, who is pursuing a computer course in her hometown Iritty, about 41 km from Kannur, made the 611-km journey from home to Belagavi spending eight hours in a bus and three hours on a train. She is among the 850-odd women, many of whom have travelled several hundred kilometers, to turn up at the first-ever recruitment rally for women to the Indian Army’s Corps of Military Police.
The recruitment of women as Soldier General Duty (Women Military Police) marks the first time that women will be taken in not only as officers, but as soldiers, giving them an opportunity to be involved in active military duties. As personnel of the military police, the women soldiers will be responsible for investigating offences such as molestation, theft, and rape; “assisting in the maintenance of good order and discipline”; and in custody and handling of prisoners of war — essentially combat-support operations.
The move is part of a slow opening up of avenues for women in the armed forces. In his Independence Day speech last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said women officers recruited into the armed forces under the Short Service Commission would be given the option of taking up permanent commission — a “gift” to India’s “brave daughters”.Following a notification issued by the Army on April 25, around 15,000 women registered for the recruitment rally at Belagavi, the first of five such to be held across India to fill 100 positions in the Military Police. The Belagavi centre catered to candidates from the southern states of Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and the Union Territories of Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar and Puducherry. Of the 15,000 aspirants, about 3,000 were short-listed on the basis of their Class 10 marks, with the cut-off set at 86 per cent. Of the shortlisted candidates, only about one-third turned up at the Belagavi centre between August 1 and 5 at the date and time assigned to them. Just then, outside the enclosure where Sneha is sitting, a shrill whistle pierces the air and another batch of girls takes off — feet on the wet ground, mostly bare, making a dash for their place in history. “Does everybody understand English?” asks Major Chaudhry and the group of 30 women, sitting on red carpets on the ground, bellows: “Yes”.
SSC CGL 2019122)What is the occasion being talked about in the passage?
Recruitment of women in the Indian Army
SSC CGL 2019123)Which city does Sneha come from?
Iritty, Kerala
SSC CGL 2019124)Why are there eruptions on Sneha’s face?
She has got the chicken pox.
SSC CGL 2019125)How many women are participating at the recruitment rally at Belagavi?
850
SSC CGL 2019126)What gift was announced by the PM in his Independence Day speech last year for the brave daughters of the country?
Women officers will be able to opt for permanent commission in the armed forces.
SSC CGL 2019127)In what way is ‘history’ being made in Belagavi?
This rally marks the first time that women will be taken in as soldiers.
SSC CGL 2019128)Which of the following duties will be borne by women soldiers?
1. Investigating offences involving molestation, theft and rape.
2. Assisting in maintaining order and discipline.
3.Administrative jobs
4. Handling prisoners of war in custody.
1, 2 and 4
SSC CGL 2019129)Which of the following is NOT necessary to qualify for the recruitment in the armed forces?
to speak English
SSC CGL 2019130)Which of the following states were not covered by the Belagavi centre?
Maharashtra and Goa