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By Brijesh Sharma
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Updated on 30 Oct 2025, 18:31 IST
An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Class 12 MCQs: CBSE Class 12 English poem “An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum” by Stephen Spender is a very meaningful part of the CBSE Class 12 English Syllabus. This poem gives a deep insight into the life of poor children who study in a small and dull school surrounded by hopelessness. Our this page on elementary school classroom in a slum mcq helps students understand this poem easily and prepare for exams better. These an elementary school classroom in a slum mcq with answers are specially designed following NCERT Solutions and CBSE Board guidelines for class 12.
You will find an elementary school classroom in a slum mcq, the elementary school classroom in a slum mcq, and also an elementary school classroom in a slum questions and answers in simple form. All questions are based on important lines and meanings from the poem which often comes in board exam. The an elementary school classroom in a slum class 12 MCQs are helpful for students who want to do quick revision and understand poetic themes like poverty, inequality, and education.
Ques: What does the poem “An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum” describe?
A) A fancy classroom in a city
B) A classroom in a slum area
C) A playground
D) A government office
Answer: B

Ques: Who is the poet of "An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum"?
A) Stephen Spender

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B) William Wordsworth
C) Robert Frost
D) John Keats
Answer: A

Ques: What is the mood of the children in the slum classroom?
A) Happy and joyful
B) Sad and hopeless
C) Angry
D) Excited
Answer: B
Ques: How are the children described in the poem?
A) Healthy and vibrant
B) Like rootless weeds with pale faces
C) Well-dressed
D) Smiling all the time
Answer: B
Ques: What does the poet want from the powerful people?
A) To punish the children
B) To bridge the gaps of inequality and injustice
C) To ignore the children
D) To give donations only
Answer: B
Ques: Which theme is central to the poem?
A) Beauty of nature
B) Poverty and social inequality
C) Technology
D) Holidays
Answer: B
Ques: What is symbolized by the “rat’s eyes” in the poem?
A) Curiosity of children
B) Fear or suffering
C) Happiness
D) Wealth
Answer: B
Ques: The walls of the classroom are described as?
A) Bright and colorful
B) Sour cream colored
C) Painted with cartoons
D) White with blackboards
Answer: B
Ques: The poet compares the children to:
A) Flowers in bloom
B) Rootless weeds
C) Birds flying
D) Stars in the sky
Answer: B
Ques: What is the poet’s attitude towards the children?
A) Indifference
B) Sympathy and concern
C) Dislike
D) Anger
Answer: B
Ques: What do the pictures on the classroom walls include?
A) Shakespeare, world maps, and beautiful valleys
B) Circus animals
C) Cartoon characters
D) Sports stars
Answer: A
Ques: The poet wishes the children could:
A) Stay in the slum forever
B) See green fields and the wide world outside
C) Stop studying
D) Become wealthy immediately
Answer: B
Ques: Which of the following is NOT a feature of the slum classroom?
A) Poor lighting
B) Clean and bright walls
C) Overcrowded with children
D) Lack of sufficient desks
Answer: B
Ques: What feelings does the poem evoke about the children’s future?
A) Hope for change
B) Certainty of wealth
C) No feelings expressed
D) Happiness
Answer: A
Ques: The poet uses the phrase “weighed down head” to describe:
A) The physical tiredness of the children
B) The emotional burden of poverty on children
C) The children’s sleepiness
D) Their excitement
Answer: B
Ques: The phrase “far far from gusty waves” means:
A) The children live near the beach
B) The children are isolated from nature and freedom
C) The children enjoy the sea breeze
D) The children love water sports
Answer: B
Ques: What is the poet’s main message?
A) Education can break the cycle of poverty
B) Children should not study in slums
C) Slums are a happy place
D) Children must stop dreaming
Answer: A
Ques: Why do the children have “paper-seeming” faces?
A) Because they are fragile and pale due to poor health
B) They love drawing
C) Their faces are covered in paper
D) They like reading newspapers
Answer: A
Ques: What should the “powerful” do according to the poet?
A) Ignore poverty
B) Bring equality and justice for children
C) Build more slums
D) Fight with each other
Answer: B
Ques: Who is the intended audience for this poem?
A) The children living in slums
B) The rich and powerful people in society
C) Teachers only
D) No specific audience
Answer: B
Ques: The phrase "rootless weeds" refers to:
A) The children’s lack of stability and poor upbringing
B) The plants near the school
C) Wild animals
D) Children’s favorite flowers
Answer: A
Ques: What is the tone throughout the poem?
A) Joyful
B) Somber and reflective
C) Angry
D) Humorous
Answer: B
Ques: What do you understand by the word ‘slum’?
A) An area with big houses
B) A poor and crowded residential area
C) A school
D) A park
Answer: B
Ques: What is a major cause of the children’s poor condition?
A) Lack of proper food and care
B) Too much playtime
C) Traveling too much
D) Living in big houses
Answer: A
Ques: What is the role of education highlighted in the poem?
A) To maintain poverty
B) To empower and bring change
C) To keep children away from playing
D) To make them wealthy quickly
Answer: B
Ques: What contrasts with the children’s ugly and grim surroundings?
A) The pictures of Shakespeare and beautiful nature on the walls
B) The food they eat
C) The toys they have
D) The colorful uniforms
Answer: A
Ques: What kind of future does the poet wish for these children?
A) A future free from poverty and injustice
B) A life of struggles only
C) No change in life
D) To leave school early
Answer: A
Ques: The room described in the poem is:
A) Well-furnished
B) Small and dull with cracked walls
C) Bright and cheerful
D) Clean and spacious
Answer: B
Ques: What is the “hope” that the poet refers to?
A) That children will get wealth easily
B) Education will bring equality
C) Children will move to the city
D) Children will marry early
Answer: B
Ques: According to the poem, the children’s lives are:
A) Full of joy and luxury
B) Marked by hardship and struggle
C) Surrounded by nature
D) Carefree and happy
Answer: B
Ques: Which poetic device is used when children are compared to “rootless weeds”?
A) Simile
B) Metaphor
C) Hyperbole
D) Personification
Answer: B
Ques: The poet uses which sense to describe the classroom environment?
A) Sight and touch
B) Hearing
C) Smell
D) Taste
Answer: A
Ques: What does the poet suggest about social inequality?
A) It is acceptable
B) It is harsh and unfair
C) It benefits children
D) It doesn’t exist
Answer: B
Ques: The phrase “weighed-down head” conveys:
A) Physical exhaustion
B) Emotional strain due to poverty
C) Lack of sleep
D) Happiness
Answer: B
Ques: What emotion does the poet evoke about the children’s surroundings?
A) Sympathy and sadness
B) Joy
C) Indifference
D) Anger
Answer: A
Ques: The poem belongs to which genre?
A) Fiction
B) Narrative Poetry
C) Descriptive Poetry
D) Haiku
Answer: C
Ques: Where is the classroom situated?
A) Near a park
B) In a slum area
C) In a palace
D) By the seaside
Answer: B
Ques: What is the main social issue highlighted?
A) Pollution
B) Poverty and lack of education
C) Technology gap
D) Traffic problems
Answer: B
Ques: How does poverty affect the children, according to the poet?
A) Leaves them pale and weak
B) Makes them strong
C) Gives them energy
D) Makes them cheerful
Answer: A
Ques: The “gusty waves” in the poem symbolize:
A) Nature’s beauty
B) Freedom and opportunities lost to the children
C) A storm
D) The sea near the school
Answer: B
Ques: What kind of imagery is prevalent in this poem?
A) Visual and emotional imagery
B) Olfactory imagery
C) Auditory imagery
D) Taste imagery
Answer: A
Ques: What does the poet ask the reader to do?
A) Be aware and address social inequalities
B) Ignore the children’s problems
C) Donate money only
D) Build more schools without concern
Answer: A
Ques: What is the significance of the pictures on the classroom walls?
A) They show a world far from the children’s reality
B) They cheer up the children
C) They are colorful drawings by children
D) They show cartoons
Answer: A
Ques: Which feelings does the classroom evoke in the poet?
A) Hope and sorrow
B) Laughter
C) Anger
D) Excitement
Answer: A
Ques: What do “rootless weeds” metaphorically represent?
A) Children homeless and unstable in life
B) Beautiful flowers
C) Urban plants
D) Wild animals
Answer: A
Ques: What is the poet’s approach toward children’s education?
A) Supportive and hopeful for improvement
B) Indifferent
C) Negative
D) Unconcerned
Answer: A
Ques: What purpose do these MCQs serve?
A) Help students quickly revise poem themes and facts
B) Waste students’ time
C) Confuse students
D) None of the above
Answer: A
Ques: What does the phrase "far far from gusty waves" imply about the children’s isolation?
A) They are disconnected from nature and broader opportunities
B) They live near the beach
C) They are free
D) They hear the waves daily
Answer: A
Ques: What effect does poverty have on the children’s appearance?
A) Makes them pale and unhealthy
B) Makes them joyful
C) Gives energy
D) No effect
Answer: A
Ques: The poem encourages readers to:
A) Act towards social equality and education for all
B) Ignore social issues
C) Disturb the children
D) Stop education
Answer: A
Ques: How is the classroom described visually?
A) Cracked walls and sour cream color
B) Colorful and bright
C) Clean and new
D) Large and airy
Answer: A
Ques: What is the tone of the poem?
A) Compassionate yet critical
B) Joyful and light-hearted
C) Angry and violent
D) Indifferent
Answer: A
Ques: Which social problem is most highlighted in the poem?
A) Inequality and deprivation among children
B) Traffic jams
C) Pollution
D) Healthcare problems
Answer: A
Ques: What does the poem suggest about “powerful people”?
A) They should help to close the gap of inequality
B) They are not important
C) They hurt children
D) They ignore education
Answer: A
Ques: Which literary device is used when the children are compared to 'rootless weeds'?
A) Metaphor
B) Simile
C) Personification
D) Hyperbole
Answer: A
Ques: The poem’s primary focus is:
A) To highlight the harsh reality of schooling in slums
B) To describe a beautiful garden
C) To show wealthy children’s life
D) To tell a fairy tale
Answer: A
Ques: How do the children react to their situation?
A) They appear dull and burdened
B) They laugh and play happily
C) They cry loudly
D) They are angry
Answer: A
Ques: What does “paper-seeming boy” mean?
A) Fragile and weak looking boy
B) A boy who loves reading
C) A boy who writes lots of papers
D) A magical boy
Answer: A
Ques: The poem is included in which CBSE book?
A) Flamingo
B) Hornbill
C) Snapshots
D) Beehive
Answer: A
Ques: The main message of the poem is:
A) To bring awareness about social disparities and education needs
B) To tell a story of a happy school
C) To describe nature’s beauty
D) To promote sports in schools
Answer: A
Ques: “Far, far from gusty waves” implies the children are
A) Close to the sea
B) Isolated from freedom and vigor
C) Living on an island
D) Enjoying sea breeze
Answer:B
Ques: The “rootless weeds” metaphor highlights the children’s
A) Beauty
B) Lack of stability and neglect
C) Athletic skills
D) Love for nature
Answer:B
Ques: The boy with “rat’s eyes” symbolizes
A) Greed
B) Fear, hunger, stealth of survival
C) Joy
D) Wisdom
Answer:B
Ques: “Paper-seeming boy” indicates
A) Artistic talent
B) Fragility from malnutrition
C) Love for reading
D) Craft skills
Answer:B
Ques: The child “reciting a lesson” but “sickly” shows
A) Perfect health
B) Inherited disease and deprivation
C) Stage fear
D) Laziness
Answer:B
Ques: The “young boy at the back” dreams of
A) Exams
B) Squirrels on a tree, outside freedom
C) Wealth
D) Food stalls
Answer:B
Ques: Pictures on the walls include
A) Circus posters
B) Shakespeare’s bust, Tyrolese valley, world map
C) Film stars
D) Sports icons
Answer:B
Ques: The classroom walls’ map represents
A) Their real lanes
B) An alien world of power and prosperity
C) A treasure map
D) A city plan of slums
Answer:B
Ques: “Their world” as per the poet is
A) Green fields
B) Narrow lanes and foggy slums
C) Beaches
D) Parks
Answer:B
Ques: “Blot their maps with slums as big as doom” means
A) Beautify maps
B) Slums expose moral failure of the rich world
C) Kids draw on maps
D) Maps are banned
Answer:B
Ques: “Foggy slums” and “bottle-bits on stones” are images of
A) Celebration
B) Bleakness and danger
C) Cleanliness
D) Joy
Answer:B
Ques: “Open-handed map” contrasts with
A) Closed books
B) Closed, cramped lives of slum kids
C) Sports fields
D) Exam halls
Answer:B
Ques: Shakespeare on the wall signifies
A) Immediate relevance
B) Cultural grandeur far from slum reality
C) Cartoonish fun
D) Sportsmanship
Answer:B
Ques: Tyrolese valley stands for
A) War
B) Idyllic beauty unlike the slum
C) Exams
D) Urban traffic
Answer:B
Ques: The phrase “catacombs” like rooms implies
A) Bright corridors
B) Dark, death-like confinement
C) Music halls
D) Dance rooms
Answer:B
Ques: “Weighed-down head” conveys
A) Pride
B) Psychological burden of poverty
C) Sleep after lunch
D) Headache only
Answer:B
Ques: The poet’s immediate appeal is to
A) Shopkeepers
B) Governor, inspector, visitor—the powerful
C) Students
D) Poets
Answer:B
Ques: The windows “that shut like a bottle’s” suggest
A) Fresh air
B) Imprisonment and blocked growth
C) Sports time
D) Open meadows
Answer:B
Ques: “Break O break open” urges
A) Breaking discipline
B) Smashing barriers of deprivation and confinement
C) Window repair
D) Cheating in exam
Answer:B
Ques: The “sun” in the last line symbolizes
A) Heatstroke
B) Light of knowledge and hope
C) Summer holidays
D) Sports day
Answer:B
Ques: The poet demands access to
A) Fun fairs
B) Green fields, golden sands, and open worlds
C) Shopping malls
D) Theme parks
Answer:B
Ques: The central themes are
A) Travel and tourism
B) Social injustice and class inequality
C) Fantasy
D) Sports strategy
Answer:B
Ques: The map in the slum class is called “a bad example” because
A) It is torn
B) It mocks their reality with unreachable prosperity
C) It has wrong labels
D) It’s outdated
Answer:B
Ques: “Narrow streets sealed in with a lead sky” implies
A) Wide avenues
B) Claustrophobic, oppressive environment
C) Mountain passes
D) Beach roads
Answer:B
Ques: The poet’s solution to inequality is primarily through
A) Punishment
B) Transformative education and access
C) Migration only
D) Charity shows
Answer:B
Ques: The effect of poverty on learning is
A) Better grades
B) Distraction, malnutrition, low self-worth
C) Extra creativity
D) No effect
Answer:B
Ques: The world outside the slum is depicted as
A) Identical to slum
B) Beautiful, prosperous, free
C) Deserted
D) War-torn
Answer:B
Ques: The poet argues the pictures on the wall are
A) Motivating and sufficient
B) Decorative illusions if life remains unchanged
C) Funny
D) Unnecessary
Answer:B
Ques: “From fog to endless night” indicates
A) Long winter vacation
B) Lifelong gloom without intervention
C) Movie time
D) Natural weather only
Answer:B
Ques: “Starving limbs” refers to
A) Athletic training
B) Malnourished bodies
C) Dance practice
D) Yoga postures
Answer:B
Ques: The poem is included in
A) Hornbill
B) Flamingo
C) Snapshot
D) Kaleidoscope
Answer:B
Ques: The poet’s tone is best described as
A) Mocking
B) Compassionate yet critical
C) Indifferent
D) Comic
Answer:B
Ques: “Awarding the world its world” suggests maps
A) Are neutral
B) Represent the powerful’s reality, excluding the slum
C) Are fiction
D) Are banned
Answer:B
Ques: The imperative to “break” targets
A) Windows only
B) Institutional barriers and social walls
C) School rules
D) Exam schedules
Answer:B
Ques: The poet wants children to learn on
A) Screens only
B) Their own terms with real opportunities
C) Weekends only
D) Trips only
Answer:B
Ques: The most striking contrast device is
A) Irony of maps vs lanes
B) Rhyme scheme change
C) Alliteration alone
D) Onomatopoeia
Answer:A
Ques: “Lives like rats in their holes” communicates
A) Playfulness
B) Cramped, unsafe existence
C) Pet care
D) Field trips
Answer:B
Ques: The poet’s view of charity without change is
A) Fully sufficient
B) Superficial symbolism
C) Best practice
D) Unrelated
Answer:B
Ques: The poem ultimately calls for
A) Cosmetic reforms
B) Structural social and educational access
C) Sports meets
D) Prize distribution
Answer:B
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The poem talks about the poor children studying in a slum school and shows the contrast between their sad lives and the rich world outside.
Solving an elementary school classroom in a slum mcq helps students revise the poem easily, improve memory, and prepare for board exams efficiently.
Yes, all elementary school classroom in a slum mcq with answers are made as per the latest CBSE and NCERT syllabus for Class 12 English.
This important poem often appears in exams, so learning its meaning, themes, and an elementary school classroom in a slum mcq helps in scoring good marks.