Poem 2nd NCERT Class 12th An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Summary

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Summary

Introduction

Stephen Spender in ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’ deals with the themes of school injustice and class inequalities. The children of a slum school are like the scum of the earth. Their faces are pale. Their hair are torn around like rootless weeds. They are stunted figures with twisted bones. They inherit diseases of their parents. They belong to the dirty world of holes. The poet thinks that the gap of the two worlds can be abridged. These unfortunate children must be taken out of these dirty and unhygienic surroundings. They must breathe in fresh and open air. They should be allowed to have full mental as well as physical development.

Summary

1. School Children of a Slum

The school children of sulms present a very pathetic picture. They have pale and lifeless faces. Their disorderly hair are torn around like rootless wild plants. They are depressed and keep their heads down. Their growth is blocked and they inherit the diseases of their parents. They do have dreams. The sweet young boy sitting at the back of his dim classroom dreams of squirrel’s games. He dreams of other interesting places other than his dull and drab classroom.

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2. The World of the Rich is not Their World

Neither literature nor the institutions have anything to do with these unfortunate children. The ‘belled and flowery’ world of the rich is quite foreign to them. The map of the world is drawn according to the will and whims of the mighty. Their world has no slums. The world of slums is confined to narrow streets sealed in with a lead sky. Their stinking world is far, far away from the spacious world of rivers, capes and stars.

3. Foggy Slums- Blots on Their Maps

What is the use of literature and Shake-speare for the children of slum schools? Nothing. The map is the world is meaningless for them. It doen’t include their narrow lanes and crampled holes in it. The world of the rich and the powerful has so many beautiful things. It has ships, sun and love. They tempt these unfortunate children. They vainly try to steal them. These children live on the heap of waste. All their time and space are spent in the foggy slums. These ugly slums are like little hells. They are ugly blots on their maps- the world of the rich and the powerful.

4. Freedom from Bonds

All the governors, teachers and other responsible persons own a duty to these children. They can’t have their own separate cosy world. There are two different and distant worlds. They will have to be abridged. Anything that binds and block the progress of these slum children will have to be broken. Their world must not be confined to narrow lanes and cramped holes. It must extend and expand to the vast golden coasts of the azure sea. They will have to be given complete freedom to express themeselves. The pages of books must open for them. Only those who have the warmth and strength of the sun create history.

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