Reading Comprehension for Bank Exams, Reading Comprehension for Bank PO, RC for Bank PO, RC for bank exams, English rc for bank exams, Story-based rc for bank exams
Reading Comprehension for Bank Exams
This is the 5th set of reading comprehension for bank and insurance exams. Reading Comprehension plays an important role in the English section of banking exams. Because English is not subject it should be treated as a language and for this, we should read English on regular basis in any form like an editorial story.
This post is for the bank exam candidates preparing for bank exams like SBI PO, IBPS PO, and RRB PO. If any candidate has any doubt regarding any question or topic, he/she can comment in the comment section provided below the post.
Set-1. In response to a written question in the Rajya Sabha, the union minister of state for education recently revealed that more than 19,000 students from Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Scheduled Castes (SCs), and Scheduled Tribes (STs) have dropped out of central universities, Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) from 2018 to 2023. The union government was questioned by a Rajya Sabha member representing the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party from Tamil Nadu about the dropout rate of students belonging to SC, ST, and OBC categories from IITs, IIMs, and other central universities in the last five years. The DMK member of Parliament (MP) also sought to know “whether Government has conducted any study regarding the reasons for the high dropout rate of OBC, SC, and ST students in these higher educational institutions.”
The question regarding the possible reasons behind the dropout rates of SC/ST/OBC students is highly crucial if one is interested in assessing the implementation of reservation policies both in letter and spirit in the institutions of higher learning. To fulfil the aim of equal opportunity, the government cannot be complacent about making it possible for marginalised students to merely gain entry into educational institutions. In fact, it needs to create enabling conditions that would help these students combat the reasons that force them to drop out from their respective degree programmes. The union minister of state for education responded to the question of the DMK MP by highlighting that the government has implemented various measures such as reducing fees, setting up more institutes, and providing scholarships to help students from economically weaker sections continue their education. The minister also said that there are schemes for the benefit of SC/ST students such as tuition fee waivers at IITs. However, citing various policies for redressing the problem of dropouts does not really explain the causes behind such high dropout rates. The minister’s statement only begs the following question: Even in the presence of these so-called welfare measures in educational institutions, why are SC/ST/OBC students still dropping out of these degree programmes in such large numbers?
The dropout rates of these students would only suggest that these redressal mechanisms are not adequately effective. More importantly, the lack of the union government’s intent to even study the problem of dropouts in educational institutions is more alarming, since the effectiveness of existing redressal mechanisms and the need, if any, for new interventions cannot be assessed unless the fundamental roots of this problem are scientifically studied by a group of experts.
At the same time, it is not entirely correct that there are no studies investigating the problem of exclusion of marginalised students in educational institutions. In 2007, the United Progressive Alliance government set up a committee to study the widely reported problem of differential treatment and discrimination faced by marginalised students at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. Titled “Report of the Committee to Enquire into the Allegation of Differential Treatment of SC/ST Students in AIIMS,” it was a comprehensive study of the problem of discrimination faced by not only SC/ST students but also SC/ST resident doctors and faculty members in AIIMS. Among its recommendations was the setting up of an “Equal Opportunity Office” to address the grievances of marginalised groups on the campus. However, the committee also took note of the casually prejudicial environment of hostels, messes, playgrounds, college fests and, indeed, the classroom, where SC/ST students often hear humiliating remarks that only diminish their sense of self-confidence and make them think as if they do not belong in these educational spaces. The committee also observed that two-thirds of all SC/ST students reported that they do not receive as much support from their teachers as compared to other students.
It is important to keep in mind that the problem of dropouts and student suicides is related to each other. The extremely tragic incidents of suicides radically undermine the aspirational importance of education. If anything, such suicides reveal that some students’ humiliating experiences in an educational institution only accentuated their life’s existing hardships. Similarly, dropouts are an example whereby a student’s presence in an educational institution did not add to their self-worth and their worth in the eyes of others on the campus.
When a student drops out of an educational institution, it is because they see the relative value of a degree to be less important than escaping all the problems that they may have had to face while studying there. It is well-established that one of the main reasons for the increased dropout rates of female students is the societal preference for women’s early marriage. Women’s education is often perceived through the lens of its relative value in decisions about marriage, and not as a good in itself. Just as early marriages constitute a major reason for the dropouts of female students, caste-based harassment and casteist indifference to special needs constitute major factors in the massive dropouts of SC/ST/OBC students.
It is time that these massive dropouts are understood as a subversion of reservation policies that were constitutionally adopted for giving equal opportunity to SC/ST/OBC students in higher educational institutions. Reservation policies should be as sensitive to the unequal exit of marginalised students from educational institutions as they are in ensuring their equal entry into these institutions.
Set-2. The recently released National Sample Survey report provides interesting insights into the progress made in some Sustainable Development Goal indicators. An important aspect highlighted in the “Multiple Indicator Survey-NSS 78th Round Report 2020–2021” is the progress made in improving information and communication technology (ICT) or digital skills. Gauging the diffusion of ICT skills is an important indicator for assessing the level of preparedness for the development of the digital economy and more importantly, the gains made in closing the digital divide or digital gap in the distribution of such skills, especially across gender and regions.
This is important as the digital divide, which broadly refers to the gap between those with the ability to access and use internet services and those without it, has emerged as a major concern that constrains the growth of the digital economy. This divide, which is multifaceted, limits the use of Internet services for various activities by different segments, especially disadvantaged groups and regions. Consequently, it results in the exclusion of large sections of the population from benefiting from the gains of the growth of the digital economy.
The report, which provides data on the level of ICT skills across the nation, helps assess how educational interventions have helped grow digital skills and influence the digital divide. It provides nine indicators of the level of digital skills attained. They can be categorised as basic digital skills (like moving a file, using copy and paste tools, sending emails and using spreadsheets), intermediate digital skills (installing devices, configuring software, making presentations using charts or videos and transferring files across devices), and specialised digital skills (like computer programming).
The survey shows that at the national level, almost a third of the persons (30.3%) in the age group 15–24 years have basic digital skills. However, intermediate digital skills are limited to just half that of the basic levels (15.6%) while programming skills are restricted to just 2.2%. Coming to the digital divide, the national numbers show that the gap at the gender level is the least while the rural–urban gap is substantially larger. However, the biggest concern is the digital skill gap across 36 states and union territories, which has reached a humongous level, and has the potential to heavily skew the spatial growth of the digital economy.
The numbers on the gender gap in digital skills at the national level show that the gap in basic digital skills is around a quarter with the basic digital skill of males at 34% and the female at 26%. The digital divide further expands at the intermediate and programming skill levels with the gap expanding to more than a third. However, the gender gap in digital skills pales in comparison to the urban–rural divide. Here, the digital divide is higher with the basic digital skill levels in the urban sector at 48% which is double that of the 24% skill level in rural areas. The rural–urban digital skill gap rises to around threefold in the case of intermediate skills and close to fourfold at the programming skill level.
Coming to the interstate disparities in digital literacy, the scenario is rather distressing. At the top is Kerala where around three-fourths of the youth in the age group 15–24 years have basic digital skills, while around half have intermediate skills and around one-tenth of programming skills. In contrast, the digital skills at the bottom end of the scale are dismal. In Uttar Pradesh, which has the least basic digital skills, the number is just 16%. However, in the case of intermediate and higher digital skills, it is Bihar which is ranked the lowest with its share of 7% and 1%, respectively.
This substantial and multifaceted digital divide across gender, regions and states is a major handicap because, unlike other factors, the digital divide generally tends to exacerbate other divides and inequalities. This is because a digital divide not only mirrors existing socio-economic disparities but also adds to them as it creates further barriers to access the new economic opportunities offered by the digital economy. Thus, it is a vicious cycle that must be broken at the earliest not only to ensure sustained and substantial growth of the digital economy but to ensure a more egalitarian distribution of the gains.
Of course, the disparities in digital skills cannot be evaluated solely in terms of the educational constraints to inculcate skills. The dissipation of digital skills is also dependent on the growth of many supply-side factors like digital infrastructure, broadband services and other factors, including the affordability of digital equipment like computers and mobile phones. So only a sustained improvement in digital infrastructure and services and higher incomes can tackle these supply-side constraints.
On the contrary, the constraints to the growth of digital skills are more amenable and can be managed through government policies, especially in the sphere of education. This is so especially in the case of students and youth, for whom information technology has been a part of the education curriculum for some time now. Unfortunately, as the report indicates, the governments at the national level and in the states have been unable to ensure a more equitable distribution of ICT skills. This means that disadvantaged groups and many states will be excluded from tapping the full potential of the digital economy. Only a reversal of the skewed distribution of skill sets can ensure a more equitable and sustained growth of the digital economy.
