Direction: Read the following passage carefully and
answer the questions given below it. Certain words
in the passage are printed in bold to help you to
locate them easily while answering some of the
questions.
The University Grants Commissions directive to college
and university lecturers to spend a minimum of 22 hours
a week in direct teaching is the product Of budgetary
cutbacks rather than pedagogic wisdom. It may seem
odd, at first blush, that teachers should protest about
teaching a mere 22 hours. However, If one considers the
amount of time academics require to prepare lectures of
good qualify as well as the time they need to spend doing
research, It is clear that most conscientious teacher’s
work more than 40 hours a week. In university systems
around the world, lecturers rarely spend more than 12
to 15 hours In direct teaching activities a week. The
average college lecturer in India does not have any office
space. If computers are available, internet connectivity is
unlikely. Libraries are poorly stocked. Now the UGC says
universities must implement a complete freeze on all
permanent recruitment, abolish all posts which have
been vacant for more than a year, and cut staff strength
by 10 percent. And it is in order to ensure that these
cutbacks do not affect the quantum of teaching that
existing lecturers are being asked to work longer.
Obviously, the quality of teaching and academic work in
general will decline. While it is true that some college
teachers do not take their classes regularly, the UGC and
the Institutions concerned must find a proper way to
hold them accountable. An absentee teacher will
continue to play truant even if the number of hours he is
required to teach goes up. All of us are well aware of the
unsound state that the Indian higher education system is
in today. Thanks to years of sustained financial neglect
most Indian universities and colleges do no research
worth the name. Even as the number of students
entering colleges has increased dramatically, public
investment in higher education has actually declined in
relative terms. Between 1985 and 1997, when public
expenditure on higher education as a percentage of
outlays on all levels of education grew by more than 60
percent in Malaysia and 20 percent in Thailand, India
showed a decline of more than 10 percent. Throughout
the world, the number of teachers in higher education
per million population grew by more than 10 percent In
the same period in India it fell by one percent. Instead of
transferring the burden of government apathy on to the
backs of the teachers, the UGC should insist that the needs of the country’s university system are adequately
catered for.
Q1.
Why does the UGC want to increase the direct teaching
hours of university teachers ?
(a)UGC feels that the duration of contact between
teacher and the taught should be more.
(b)UGC wants teachers to spend more time in their
depart merits.
(c)UGC wants teachers to devote some time to improve
university administration.
(d)UGC does not have money to appoint additional
teachers.
(e)None of these
Q2.
Which of the following is the reason for the sorry state of
affairs of the Indian Universities as mentioned in the
passage ?
(a)The poor quality of teachers
(b)Involvement of teachers in extracurricular activities
(c)Politics within and outside the departments
(d)Heavy burden of teaching hours on the teachers
(e)Not getting enough financial assistance
Q3.
Which of the following statements/s/are TRUE in the
context of the passage ?
(A)Most colleges do not carry out research worth the
name.
(B)UGC wants lecturers to spend minimum 22 hours a
week in direct teaching.
(C)Indian higher education system is in unsound state.
(a) Only (A) and (C)
(b)All (A), (B) and (C)
(c)Only (A)
(d) Only (B)
(e) Only (B) and (C)
Q4.
Besides direct teaching University teachers spend
considerable time in/on ………..
(a)administrative activities such as admissions
(b)supervising examinations and correction of answer
papers
(c)carrying out research in the area of their interest
(d)maintaining research equipment and libraries
(e)developing liaison with the user organizations B.
Q5.
Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE In the
context of the passage?
(a)UGC wants teachers to spend minimum 40 hours in a
week in teaching
(b)Some college teachers do not engage their classes
regularly
(c)The average college teacher in India does not have
any office space
(d)UGC wants universities to abolish all posts which
have been vacant for more than a year
(e)All are true
Q6.
Between 1385-1997, the number of teachers in higher
education per million population, in India.
(a)Increased by 60%
(b)Increased by 20%
(c)decreased by 22%
(d)decreased by 10%
(e)decreased by 1%
Q7.
Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE in the
context of the passage ?
(a)Indian universities are financially neglected.
(b)All over the world, the university lecturers hardly
spend more than 12 to 15 hours a week in direct
teaching.
(c)Indian Universities are asked to reduce staff strength
by 10%.
(d)Public investment in higher education has increased
in India.
(e)Malaysia spends more money on education than
Thailand.
Q8.
What is the UGC directive to the universities?
(a)Improve the quality of teaching.
(b)Spend time on research activities.
(c)Do not appoint any permanent teacher.
(d)Provide computer and internet facilities.
(e)Do not spend money on counselling services to the
students.
Direction: Read the following passage carefully and
answer the questions given below it. Certain words
phrases are printed in bold to help you locate them
while answering those questions.
At one time it would have been impossible to imagine
the integration of different religious thoughts, ideas and
ideals. That is because of the closed society, the lack of
any communication or interdependence on other
nations. People were happy and content amongst
themselves; they did not need any more. The physical
distance and cultural barriers prevented any exchange of
thought and beliefs. But such is not the case today.
Today, the world has become a much smaller place,
thanks to the adventures and miracles of science.
Foreign nations have become our next-door neighbors.
Mingling of population is bringing about an interchange
of thought. We are slowly realizing that the world is a
single cooperative group1. Other religions have become forces with which we have to reckon and we are seeking
for ways and means by which we can live together in
peace and harmony. We cannot have religious unity and
peace so long as we assert that we are in possession of
the light and all others are grouping in the darkness That
very assertion is a challenge to a fight. The political ideal
of the world is not so much a single empire with a
homogeneous, Civilization and single communal will a
brotherhood of free nations differing profoundly in life
and mind, habits and institutions, existing side by side in
peace and order, harmony and cooperation and each
contributing to the world its own unique and specific
best, which is irreducible to , the terms of the others. The
cosmopolitanism of the eighteenth century, and the
nationalism of , the nineteenth are combined in our ideal
of a world commonwealth, which allows every branch of
the human family to find freedom, security and selfrealization
in the larger life of man , kind. I see no hope
for the religious future of the world, if this ideal is not
extended to the religious, sphere also?, When two or
three different systems claim that they contain the
revelation of the very core and center of truth and the
acceptance of it is the exclusive pathway to heaven,
conflicts are inevitable. In such conflicts one religion will
not, allow others to steal a march over it and no one can
gain ascendancy until the world is reduced to dust and
ashes. To obliterate every other religion than, ones is a
sort of Bolshevism in religion which we must try to
prevent. We can do so only if we accept something like
the Indian solution, which seeks the unity of religion not
in a common creed but in a common quest. Let us believe
in a unity of spirit and not of organization, a unity which
secures ample liberty not only for every individual but
for every type of organized life which has proved itself
effective. For almost all historical forms of life and
thought can claim the sanction of experience and so the
authority of God. The world would be a much poorer
thing if one creed absorbed the rest. God wills a rich
harmony and not a colorless uniformity. The
comprehensive and synthetic spirit of Indianism had
made it a mighty forest with a thousand waving aims
each fulfilling its function and all directed by the spirit of
God. Each thing in its place and all associated in the
divine concert making with their various voices and even
dissonance, as Heraclitus would say, the most exquisite
harmony should be our ideal.
Q9.
According to the passage, religious unity and peace can
be obtained if
(a)We believe that the world is a single cooperative
group
(b)We do not assert that we alone are in possession of
the real knowledge
(c)We believe in a unity of spirit and not of organization.
(d) We believe that truth does matter and will prevail
(e) None of these
Q10.
Which of the following, according to the passage, is the
Indian solution ? Unity of religions in a common
(a) Belief
(b) Organization
(c) Creed
(d) Search
(e) None of these
Q11.
According to the author, which of the following is NOT
TRUE ?
(a) Acceptance of Indianism is the exclusive pathway to
heaven
(b)We should not assert that other religions have no
definite pathway or goal
(c) God wants a genuine similarity in thoughts, ideals
and values rather than an artificial appearance
(d)People interacting with each other is bringing about a
change in their attitude.
(e)None of these
Q12.
According to the passage, the political ideal of the
contemporary world is toll create a single empire with a
homogeneous civilization
(a) foster the unity of all the religions of the world
(b)create a world common wealth preserving religious
diversity of all the nations
(c)create brotherhood of free nations who believe in one
religion
(d)None of these.
(e)All of these
Q13.
According to the passage, the world would be a much
poorer thing if
(a)one religion swallows all other religions
(b)one religion accepts the supremacy of other religions
(c)religions adopt toleration as a principle of spiritual
life
(d)we do not achieve the ideal of brotherhood of free
nations
(e)None of these
Q14.
Which of the following statements is/are stated or
implied in the above passage ?
(A)People today are happy and content amongst
themselves.
(B)There is no freedom and security in the religious
sphere in the world today.
(C)Indianism is directed by the spirit of God.
(a)Only (A) & (C)
(b)Only (B)
(c)Only (C)
(d)Only (A)
(e)None of these
Q15.
According to the passage, what is Bolshevism in the
religion ?
(a)To ridicule the views sincerely held by others
(b)To accept others religious beliefs and doctrines as
authentic as ours
(c)To adhere to rigid dogmatism in religion
(d)To make change in a religion so that it becomes more
acceptable
(e)None of these
Q16.
According to the passage, the conflict of religions is
inevitable mainly because each religion
(a)believes that anyone who disagrees with it ought to
be silenced
(b)wants to steal a march over others
(c)claims to possess a complete and exclusive
understanding of truth
(d)believes that the view held Strongly by many need
not be a correct view
(e)None of these
