Education For All

1. The Last Lesson  

Writer: Alphonse Daudet  

Summary / Long Answer  

This is the story of a French boy named Franz who dislikes studying French and hates his teacher M. Hamel. One morning he is in great dread of scolding because he has not learned the lesson on participles. When he reaches school, he finds complete silence. Students are sitting silently at their desks. M. Hamel does not scold him for being late.  

M. Hamel is wearing his special green coat, frilled shirt, and black silk cap, which he wears only on inspection and prize days. Villagers are also present in the class, and everyone looks very sad.  

M. Hamel announces that the order has come from Berlin to teach only German in the schools of Alsace and Lorraine. This is the last French lesson. Franz is shocked. He feels sorry for not learning his mother tongue and suddenly starts liking French and his teacher M. Hamel.  

M. Hamel blames everyone (including himself) for not giving proper attention to their mother tongue. He says parents were not anxious enough to send children to school, and he himself used to send students to water his flowers or give them holidays for fishing. He declares that French is the most logical, clear, and beautiful language in the world, and one must preserve it because language is the key to the prison.  

At the end he writes “Vive la France!” Completes the writing on the board and ends the lesson.

Key Exam Lines  

The order has come from Berlin to teach only German in the schools of Alsace and Lorraine.  

French is the most logical, clear, and beautiful language.  

Language is the key to the prison.  

One must preserve their mother tongue.  

M. Hamel blamed everyone, including himself.  

Important Vocabulary  

Reproach, commotion, iron ruler, cranky, bustle, solemn, thunderclap.  

Important Questions  

What was different about the school after the order from Berlin?

How did Franz’s feelings about M. Hamel and school change?  

Why did Franz start liking his teacher and the French language?  

What was the “thunderclap”?  

Importance of mother tongue according to M. Hamel.  

2. Lost Spring  

Writer: Anees Jung  

Part 1 – Saheb-e-Alam (Seemapuri)  

The writer highlights the plight of deprived children of Seemapuri (a slum on the periphery of Delhi). The place is not lookedafter—noo sewage, drainage, or running water. Survival means rag-picking. Garbage to them is gold (a ₹1 coin, a ₹10 note, or a pair of torn shoes).  

Saheb is a rag-picker who has migrated from Bangladesh. He walks barefoot. Later he gets a job at a tea stall for ₹800 and all meals but loses the freedom of being his own master.  

Part 2 – Mukesh (Firozabad)  

Firozabad is famous for bangle-making. It is a hazardous profession. Workers work in furnaces with extremely high temperatures in dingy cells without air and light. Dust from polishing glass bangles affects the eyes badly and often causes blindness.  

Mukesh is different from his family. He dreams of becoming a car mechanic and wants to go to a garage to learn car repair.  

Bangle-makers cannot organize themselves into a cooperative because of the fear of being beaten and harassed by the police. They are compelled to live a miserable life due to the vicious circle of sahukars, middlemen, policemen, bureaucrats, and politicians.  

Key Exam Lines  

Garbage to them is gold.  

Survival in Seemapuri means rag-picking.  

Workers have to work in furnaces that have extremely high temperatures.  

The dust from polishing the glass of bangles affects the eyes badly and often causes blindness.  

Fear of being beaten and harassed by the police.  

Important Vocabulary  

Scrounging, periphery, tarpaulin, devoid, hazardous, dingy cells, furnace, stigma, vicious circle.  

Important Questions  

Why does the author say “garbage to them is gold”?  

Why is bangle-making a hazardous profession?  

Why could the bangle-makers not organize themselves?  

Why do bangle-makers remain poor?  

Explain: “Seemapuri is a place on the periphery of Delhi yet miles away from it.”  

3. Deep Water  

Writer: William Douglas  

Summary / Long Answer  

William Douglas had a phobia of water. At the age of three or four, waves at a California beach knocked him down and swept over him. While at the YMCA pool, a big boy threw him into the deep water. He almost drowned and experienced death closely. This intensified his fear and deprived him of the joy of canoeing, boating, and swimming.  

He decided to overcome the fear. He hired an instructor. The instructor used a belt with a rope attached to support him. He practiced putting his face under water, inhaling and exhaling hundreds of times. He practiced five days a week, an hour each day. Finally, he learned swimming. He went to different lakes and islands and even repeated the feat of Doug Corpron by swimming across Warm Lake.  

He realized that death is peaceful; it is the fear of death that is terrifying.  

Key Points to Overcome Fear  

Resilience, perseverance, Confrontation, seeking support (and practice).  

Series of Emotions when thrown into the pool  

Had a plan to come out by bouncing from the bottom.  

The plan failed; I became nervous and frightened.  

Began to suffocate; tried to shout.  

Legs felt heavy; she grew agitated and became unconscious.  

Key Exam Lines  

The instructor put a belt around him and a rope attached to it.  

He practiced putting his face under water, inhaling and exhaling.  

He had overcome his baseless fear of water.  

Death is peaceful; it is the fear of death that is terrifying.  

Important Questions  

What helped William Douglas overcome his fear of water?

Describe the series of emotions Douglas experienced when thrown into the pool.  

How did Douglas learn swimming?  

Why did he want to get rid of his phobia of water?  

4. The Rattrap  

Writer: Selma Lagerlöf  

Summary / Long Answer  

This is the story of a poor rat-trap seller who leads a sad and monotonous life. His circumstances force him to rely on stealing and begging for survival. One day the idea strikes him that the whole world is nothing but a big rattrap. It offers baits of riches, joys, shelter, food, and clothing.  

One evening he takes shelter at the cottage of an old crofter. The next morning he steals the crofter’s thirty kronor. He loses his way in the forest and reaches a forge. The ironmaster mistakes him for an old regimental comrade (Nils Olof) and invites him home. The pedlar refuses out of fear.  

The ironmaster’s daughter, Edla, persuades him with kindness, respect, and sympathy. She calls him Captain and offers him a fur coat. He accepts. Later the ironmaster discovers the truth and asks him to leave, but Edla insists that he stay for Christmas.  

After Christmas, the family learns that a man with rattraps has stolen money. They find that the pedlar has left a small rattrap as a gift for Edla containing a letter of thanks and the stolen money. He requests her to return the money to the crofter and signs himself as Captain. Edla’s kindness and compassion transform him completely.  

Key Exam Lines  

The whole world is nothing but a big rattrap.  

It offers baits of riches, joys, shelter, food, and clothing.  

The ironmaster mistook him for an old friend.  

Edla showed compassion, kindness, and respect.  

Important Vocabulary  

Vagabond, resort, pedlar, compassion, crofter, arrogance, bait, modest, forge.  

Important Questions  

How did Edla change the pedlar?  

What made the ironmaster invite the pedlar to his house?  

Explain how the rattrap symbolizes the dual aspect of human nature.  

What did the pedlar leave for Edla?  

5. Indigo  

Writer: Louis Fischer  

(Extract from The Life of Mahatma Gandhi)  

Summary / Long Answer  

Rajkumar Shukla, an illiterate but resolute peasant from Champaran, meets Gandhi in Lucknow (December 1916) and tells him about the deep injustice done to the sharecroppers. He accompanies Gandhi everywhere until Gandhi agrees to visit Champaran.  

Sharecroppers were forced to plant indigo on 15% of their land and surrender the entire harvest as rent to British landlords. When Germany developed synthetic indigo, the landlords forced the peasants to pay compensation to be freed from the agreement. The system was highly oppressive.  

Gandhi visits Muzaffarpur, is welcomed by Professor J.B. Kripalani, and chides the lawyers for charging high fees from the peasants. He is served a notice to leave Motihari but disobeys it. A case is filed against him. A large crowd gathers outside the court. Gandhi is released without bail. This is the first triumph of civil disobedience.  

A commission is set up. Planters are found guilty. Gandhi asks for a 50% refund but accepts 25%. For the first time landlords are obliged to pay the peasants. Gandhi also opens schools, provides medical help, and teaches the lesson of self-reliance. He refuses help from the English pacifist C.F. Andrews so that Indians learn to stand on their own feet.  

Key Exam Lines  

Peasants were forced to plant indigo on 15% of their holdings.  

The entire indigo harvest was paid as rent.  

First triumph of civil disobedience.  

Gandhi considered the Champaran episode a turning point in his life.  

Important Points  

Rajkumar Shukla—illiterate but resolute; Gandhi impressed by his tenacity.  

Self-reliance: Indians must stand on their own feet.  

The British cannot order Indians in their own country.  

Important Questions  

Why did Gandhi consider the Champaran episode a turning point?  

How was Gandhi able to influence the lawyers?  

What was the problem of the sharecroppers in Champaran?  

Why did Gandhi refuse the help of C.F. Andrews?