The chapter “Who Will Do This Work” is Chapter 16 from Looking Around EVS for students of NCERT board and Chapter 18 from Let’s Look Around and Learn EVS for students of JKBOSE. This post is about Who Will Do This Work Class 5 EVS Summary Notes for students of both the boards as exercises are the same. In my last post, you read about Who Will Do This Work Class 5 EVS Question Answer. Let’s get started with today’s post:
Who Will Do This Work Class 5 EVS Summary Notes
Introduction
The chapter “Who Will Do This Work” briefs the students about the job of cleaning. Cleaning jobs like picking up trash and removing garbage that is lying around is one of the toughest jobs. The poorest and illiterate or less educated people in society do such jobs. They are looked upon as dirty and unclean due to the nature of their jobs.
Interview (adapted) from the documentary film ‘India Untouched by Stalin. K.
In this interview, a few questions were asked from the people doing cleaning jobs.
Q. Since when have you been doing this work?
A. About twenty years ago: Since I completed my studies.
Q. Why did you not study further? You could have got some other job?
A. You need money for your studies. And even after that most of our people continue to do this kind of work.
Q. What do you mean?
A. Since our great grandfathers’ times… or even before that, most people of our community have been doing this work. Even after getting a college degree, our people do not get any other kind of job. So, they have to do this work.
Q. Why is that so?
A. That is the way it is. In the entire city, all the people who do this kind of work are from our community. It has always been so.
Remembering Those Days
Gandhiji had a friend named Mahadevbhai Desai. His son Narayan also stayed with Gandhiji when he was young. Below is the incident from Narayan’s book.
When Narayan (Babla) was about 11 years old, he was staying in Gandhiji’s Sabarmati Ashram. Like everyone else in the Ashram, he had to do various kinds of work. One of his jobs was to teach the guests how to clean the toilets. In those days, the toilets were not what we know today. There used to be holes under which baskets were kept. People sat in the holes. Later the baskets had to be lifted by hand, to be emptied.
It was the usual practice that people from a particular community would do this work. But in Gandhiji’s Ashram, every person had to carry the basket to the compost pit and empty it there. No one was excused from this task – not even the guests. Narayanbhai remembers how some people used to try and avoid this work. Some even left the Ashram because of this.
Some years later Gandhiji went to stay at a village, near Wardha in Maharashtra. Gandhiji, Mahadevbhai and others started to clean the toilets in the village. They did this for some months. One morning a man coming from the toilet saw Mahadevbhai. He pointed to him and said “There is a lot of dirt over there. Go and clean that!” When Babla saw this, he was very angry. He thought the villagers felt that this was not their work. This was for Gandhiji and his team to do. He asked Gandhiji why this was so. Gandhiji replied, “Untouchability is a serious matter. A lot of hard work will be required to change this.”
Narayan knew that the people who usually did this work were thought to be untouchable. He asked “What is the use if the village people do not change their thinking? They have become used to someone else doing this work for them.”
Gandhiji replied, “Why”? Don’t you think the people who clean also benefit from it. They also learn a lesson. To learn something is like learning a new skill. Even if it is a cleaning job.”
Little Narayan was not convinced. He again argued, “Those who make a place dirty but do not clean it should also learn lessons.” Gandhiji and Narayan continued to argue about this. But when he grew up Narayan always followed the path shown by Gandhiji.
From the book in Gujarati by Narayanbhai Desai – Sant-Charan-Raj, Sevita, Sahaj
A Childhood Story
This story is almost a hundred years old. Seven-year-old Bhim went to Goregaon in Maharashtra with his father to spend his holidays. He saw a barber cutting the long hair of a rich farmer’s buffalo. He thought of his long hair. He went to the barber and asked for a haircut. The barber replied, “If I cut your hair both my razor and I will get dirty.” Oh, so to cut human hair can be dirtier than cutting an animal’s hair, wondered little Bhim.
Later this little Bhim was known as Bhim Rao Baba Saheb Ambedkar. He became very famous across the world. Baba Saheb fought for justice for people like him. After India’s freedom, the Constitution was prepared under the leadership of Baba Saheb.
A Conversation in School – The Reality Today
Interview (adapted) from the documentary film-‘India Untouched by Stalin. K.
Hetal: I am Hetal, and this is Meena. We both study in Class III.
Q: What all do you do in school?
Meena: We clean the ground.
Q: Do all children clean?
Hetal: No, not all.
Meena: We also have to clean the toilets. We do it on different days. I clean on Monday, she does on Tuesday, and she on Wednesday. All the children from our community do this. Hetal: We have to carry twenty buckets of water for this. We have to sweep and wash.
Q: Why only you? Why not all the children?
Hetal: Only we have to. If we don’t we get beaten.
Conclusion from Chapter
- We should do every type of work like cleaning of the house, cleaning of drains etc.
- Today many types of machines have been made to clean the waste.
- We should clean our toilet ourselves.
- The sweeper cleans the school.
- Everybody does some work – somebody cleans, someone pulls the cart, someone sells the vegetable and someone does the labour.
- To learn some work is like an art.
That’s all we have about Who Will Do This Work Class 5 EVS Summary Notes. Hope it has helped. Do share your views about this post in the comment section below.
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