1. Read the passage given below.

1. Off the Northern tip of Scotland, where the Atlantic Ocean meets the North Sea, lies a
group of islands called the Orkneys. These treeless isles are frequently battered by
Atlantic storms, and rain. It was during one such storm in the winter of 1850, when the
combination of wind and high tides stripped away the grass from the top of a small hill
called Skara Brae on the west side of the largest island. This revealed a number of
stone dwellings.

2. The local landowner started excavations on the site, and within twenty years the
remains of four ancient houses were unearthed. However, work was later abandoned
until 1925 when another storm damaged some of the excavated buildings. A sea wall
was proposed to protect the site, and, during construction,more buildings were
discovered.

3. It was first believed that the village was an Iron Age settlement. However,
radiocarbon dating proved that it was a Neolithic village which dated back to 3000 B.C.
The village named Skara Brae now consists of eight dwellings, connected by low,
covered passages which had been inhabited for about 600 years by not more than
hundred people. The stone buildings are extremely well-preserved, thanks to the layer
of sand that protected the settlement. The interior fittings, furniture and household
objects also survive to this day.

4. The houses were partly built into a mound of waste material known as 'midden',
which would have provided both stability and a thick layer of insulation against the harsh
climate. From the outside, the village would have looked like a low, round mound, from
which the rooves emerge. Nothing remains of these, so it is assumed that driftwood or
whalebone beams supported a root made of turf, skins, seaweed or straw. The
dwellings were all connected by a series of passage covered by stone slabs. This
allowed the villagers to travel from one house to another without stepping outside - not a
bad idea. There was only one main passageway leading outside the village, which could
be sealed from the inside. Evidence suggests that there were never more than eight
dwellings which are all very similar in design, consisting of a large square room with a
central fireplace. The furnishings were all made of stone, given the shortage of wood on
the islands. Two stone-edged compartments on either side of the fireplace appear to be
beds. Every house also had a distinctive shelved, stone dresser. Its po opposite the
doorway and illuminated by the fire, indicating that it was not just a useful storage
space, but had special significance. There was a sunken floor tank in each dwelling,
possibly to supply shell fish.

5. One of the buildings, now known as 'house seven', is intriguingly different and
detached from the others. It has a door which could only be secured from the outside,
suggesting that the house may have served as a type of jail. 'House eight is also
unique, having none of the furnishings of the other houses. Excavators have found that
the floor of the building is littered with fragments from the manufacture of tools,
suggesting that the room was a workshop. The standardised house design has led
some to believe that there was no hierarchy of rank within the settlement. Whether or
not this is true is debatable. However, it is likely that life here was probably quite
comfortable. Why the village was abandoned is still under study.

Based on your understanding of the passage, answer any eight questions from
the nine given below. (1x8)

(i) Cite a point in evidence, from the text, to suggest that the Atlantic storms were

fierce.

(ii) Not more than four houses would have been uncovered if the idea of construction

of a sea wall had not been proposed. Why?

(iii) The dwellings were all connected by a series of passageways covered by stone
slabs. Provide a reason of why it is 'not a bad idea'.

(iv) Why are the stone buildings still preserved?

(v) Rewrite the given sentence by replacing the underlined phrase/word with another
phrase/ word from the last paragraph.

Concrete purpose-built resorts are scattered across the mountainsides.

(vi) What does the use of the phrase 'quite comfortable suggest in the context of the
writer's viewpoint about life in the village?

(vii) Select the suitable phrase/word from the last paragraph to complete the following
sentence appropriately.

Students who had completed the program scored significantly higher on ...........

tests.

(viii) How can we say that the village was occupied by not more than 100 people?

(ix) Analyse how the houses were made to keep specific condition of the isle in mind?

2. Read the passage given below.

1. Bangladesh has made much progress in improving its human development

indicators, faring well above its South Asian neighbors on several fronts. Chief among
these achievements is girls' education, for which Bangladesh now stands as a model.

2. Since the 1980s, secondary school enrolments for girls jumped from 39 percent in
1998 to 67 percent in 2017. Such progress is the result of several incentives, especially
the Female Secondary School Assistance Project (FSSAP), which was instrumental in
achieving gender parity since it started in the early 1990s first as a pilot and then a
nationwide program.

3. FSSAP was part of a coordinated effort to increase girls' enrolment and retention in
secondary schools by providing stipends and tuition waivers. Building on this success,
the World Bank introduced a second-generation stipend program for the poorest
children of whom 55 percent were girls. However, despite better enrolment rates,
educations outcomes for girls remain inadequate as low and unequal levels of learning
persist.

4. Data from the 2017 Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics
show that dropout rates for girls are at a high 42 percent at the secondary school level;
completion rates are low, with grade 10 rates bottoming at only 10 percent, and
secondary level completion rates reaching a mere 59 percent. These trends carry
through tertiary education, resulting in low female labour force participation. What
explains these high female dropout rates? Child marriage, household responsibilities,
high levels of pregnancies, mental health issues and school-based violence are some of
the main factors. Figure-Share of individuals that have at least completed Grade 6 after
completing/passing Grade 5 - by gender and age (%)
5. Ensuring that students complete secondary education is at the core of the 2018 -

2022 Secondary Education Development Program (SEDP). A key feature of t program

is the Adolescent Girls' Program, which aims to improve girls' retention in secondary
schools through a collaboration between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of
Health and Family Welfare. The school-based program will address menstrual
management, ensure separate sanitation facilities for girls, and provide female students
with cash incentives to attend school. It will also tackle mental well-being, and gender-
equitable behaviour.

6. Prioritising girls' education is the first vital step to economic development in

Bangladesh. The next critical step is to leverage the better-educated female labour
force to propel economic and social progress in Bangladesh.

Based on your understanding of the passage, answer any six out of the seven
questions given below. (1x6)

(i) What does the author means by 'Bangladesh now stands as a model?

(ii) Why does the author say that 'Education outcomes for girls remain inadequate as
low and unequal levels of learning persist'?

(iii) With reference to the figure, write one conclusion about the education level of

males and females.

(iv) What is FSSAP?

(v) Prioritising girls' education is the first vital step to economic development in

Bangladesh. Substantiate.

(vi) Why is the collaboration between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of
Health and Family Welfare essential for female education?
(vii) Identify a word from the passage indicating a maximum advantage that can be

taken from a program.