NCERT MCQ Solutions for Class 5 EVS Looking Around Chapter 16 Who Will Do This Work?

The chapter explores the essential role of cleaning staff in society and challenges the deep-rooted negative attitudes and discrimination associated with sanitation work.

Due to systemic discrimination and lack of opportunities, educated individuals from marginalized communities often find it difficult to get other jobs and may have to continue in traditional occupations.

In the Ashram, everyone, including guests, was required to do their own cleaning, including the toilets. This was done to promote equality and challenge caste-based prejudices.

Some villagers believed it was the duty of others to clean for them. They felt that cleaning was not their responsibility, reflecting deeply entrenched social and caste-based norms.

A key lesson emphasized is that all types of work, including cleaning, have dignity. Learning to do such tasks helps promote self-reliance, equality, and respect for all people.

In the past, due to the practice of untouchability, a barber might refuse service to someone from a so-called “lower” caste, believing that it would make him “impure.”

The chapter highlights that in some schools, children from specific marginalized communities were unfairly singled out and forced to clean toilets, reflecting societal discrimination.

If no one collected garbage, it would pile up everywhere. This would create unhygienic conditions, spread diseases, and cause a major public health crisis.

A key debate was about how to change people’s mindsets. One view was that people should change immediately, while another believed in leading by example for gradual change.

The chapter suggests that despite cleaning work being essential for health and hygiene, it is often devalued. The people who do this work frequently face social bias and discrimination.

The Ashram used a simple toilet system where waste was collected in baskets placed under the toilet holes. These baskets had to be emptied and cleaned manually.

Some guests left because they could not accept the rule that everyone had to do their own cleaning, including cleaning the toilets, due to their own deep-seated prejudices.

The purpose is to make children think about the importance of every job and to develop respect for all types of work, thereby promoting the idea of dignity of labor.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the architect of India’s Constitution, dedicated his life to fighting for the rights and dignity of marginalized communities and eradicating caste-based discrimination.

Despite their essential work, cleaning staff are often treated with indifference or disrespect. Many face social discrimination due to the nature of their job and their social background.

The chapter encourages schools to ensure that maintaining cleanliness is a shared responsibility. All children should participate, rather than assigning the task to specific groups.

The chapter connects cleaning work to the historical practice of untouchability, where certain communities were forced to do this work and were discriminated against by the rest of society.

The young follower learned that there is dignity in all work. He understood the leader’s philosophy of valuing every job as an important step towards achieving social justice.

Changing these attitudes is difficult because they are based on deep-rooted social and caste hierarchies that have existed for centuries. Overcoming these prejudices requires continuous effort.

A bhajan (devotional song) popular with such a leader would likely promote messages of equality, humility, and the idea that all human beings are the same.