UPHESC Assistant Professor Education 2025 PYQs

Concept: Check each statement.

1. a – correct: the Ganga basin is India's largest (about a quarter of the country's area).
2. b – correct: the Bhagirathi rises at Gaumukh (Gangotri glacier) in Uttarkashi district, Uttarakhand.
3. c – wrong: Satluj and Jhelum belong to the Indus system.
4. d – correct: the Son is the main right-bank tributary (others: Yamuna, Tons… ).

Short trick: Punjab rivers (Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, Satluj) → Indus; drop c.

Concept: The Khyber Pass, in the Spin Ghar (Safed Koh) range, is in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

1. It links Peshawar (Pakistan) with Jalalabad/Kabul (Afghanistan) via Torkham border.
2. It was the historic invasion and trade route into the Indian subcontinent.

Short trick: Khyber → Khyber Pakhtunkhwa → Pakistan.

Concept: The Coriolis effect is the apparent deflection of moving objects caused by the Earth's rotation.

1. Deflection is to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern; it is zero at the equator and maximum at the poles.
2. Pressure differences drive winds, and the Coriolis effect deflects them; ocean currents are deflected by it, not its cause; the Moon causes tides.

Short trick: Rotation → Coriolis; Moon → tides.

Concept: Kirsty Coventry, a Zimbabwean former swimmer, was elected IOC President on 20 March 2025 (Costa Navarino, Greece).

1. She is the 10th IOC President, the first woman and the first African; she succeeded Thomas Bach (Germany) in June 2025.
2. She won 7 Olympic medals, including 200 m backstroke gold in 2004 and 2008, and was Zimbabwe's sports minister.

Short trick: First woman + first African IOC chief = Coventry of Zimbabwe.

Concept: NPP 2000 has immediate (unmet contraception needs), medium-term (TFR to replacement level 2.1 by 2010) and long-term objectives.

1. Long-term objective: a stable population by 2045, consistent with economic growth and environment protection → 1 correct.
2. National socio-demographic goals include reducing MMR to below 100 per 100,000 live births (and IMR below 30 per 1000) → 2 correct.

Short trick: NPP 2000: TFR 2.1 by 2010, stable population by 2045, MMR < 100, IMR < 30.

Concept: The capital market deals in long-term funds – equity and debt; the best-known capital markets are the stock market and the bond markets.

1. Stock (share) market → equity capital; bond market → long-term debt capital.
2. A depository account (with NSDL/CDSL) only holds securities in electronic (demat) form – it is a facility, not a market.

Short trick: Capital market = shares + bonds; demat = locker, not market.

Concept: FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) was founded in 1927 on the advice of Mahatma Gandhi by G. D. Birla and Purshottamdas Thakurdas.

1. It is India's oldest and largest apex business organisation, headquartered in New Delhi.
2. Gandhi only advised; J. R. D. Tata was a co-author of the 1944 Bombay Plan with them, not a FICCI founder.

Short trick: FICCI 1927 = Birla + Thakurdas (Gandhi's advice).

Concept: Right to Equality = Articles 14–18 of the Constitution (the English List-II gives Articles; the Hindi version prints 'अनुसूची' (Schedule), but the numbers 14–17 can only be Articles – the Constitution has just 12 Schedules).

1. Art 14 – equality before law and equal protection of laws → a-I.
2. Art 15 – no discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth → b-II.
3. Art 16 – equality of opportunity in public employment → c-III.
4. Art 17 – abolition of untouchability → d-IV (Art 18 – abolition of titles).

Short trick: The rights follow the article order 14-15-16-17 → straight I-II-III-IV.

Concept: Article 81 caps the Lok Sabha at 530 members from the States + 20 from the Union Territories = 550.

1. Earlier, Article 331 allowed the President to nominate 2 Anglo-Indians, which made the maximum 552.
2. The 104th Amendment (2019, effective 25 Jan 2020) ended Anglo-Indian nomination, so the maximum now fixed by the Constitution is 550.
3. 545 was the actual strength (543 elected + 2 nominated) up to the 16th Lok Sabha; 543 elected seats today.

Short trick: Max now 530 + 20 = 550 (552 only before 2020).

Concept: Recall each Article.

1. Art 50 (DPSP) – separation of judiciary from executive → a-II.
2. Art 143 – President may seek the Supreme Court's advisory opinion → b-IV.
3. Art 61 – procedure for impeachment of the President → c-I.
4. Art 320 – functions of Public Service Commissions → d-III.

Short trick: Only option A has a-II and b-IV.

Concept: Pragmatism (Peirce, James, Dewey) judges every idea, value and subject by its practical utility – ‘truth is what works’.

1. Pragmatist curriculum keeps only useful subjects and activities (principle of utility, activity, integration, experience).
2. Naturalism stresses nature and the child’s instincts; realism stresses the objective material world.
3. Idealism stresses eternal spiritual values, not usefulness.

Short trick: Pragmatism = ‘Prayojan’ = purpose/use → Utility.

Concept: ‘The Republic’ (c. 375 BC) is Plato’s dialogue on justice and the ideal state, containing his scheme of state-controlled education.

1. Rousseau wrote ‘Emile’ (1762) and ‘The Social Contract’.
2. Socrates wrote nothing; he appears as a speaker in Plato’s dialogues.
3. Dewey wrote ‘Democracy and Education’ (1916).

Short trick: Plato → Republic; Rousseau → Emile; Dewey → Democracy and Education.

Concept: Idealism holds that Truth, Beauty and Goodness (Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram) are eternal, absolute and unchanging spiritual values.

1. Pragmatism says values are relative and keep changing with experience.
2. Naturalism and realism do not treat values as eternal spiritual absolutes.

Short trick: Idealism = eternal ideals; Pragmatism = changing values.

Concept: The ‘Triratna’ (three jewels) of Jainism are Samyak Darshan (right faith), Samyak Jnana (right knowledge) and Samyak Charitra (right conduct) – the path to moksha.

1. Buddhism’s path is the Eightfold Path (Samyak Drishti, Samyak Sankalp… eight items).
2. Three items of faith–knowledge–conduct = Jain Triratna.

Short trick: Three ‘Samyak’ = Jain Triratna; eight ‘Samyak’ = Buddha’s Ashtangik Marg.

Concept: Realism holds that the external material world exists independently of the mind; matter/objects perceived through the senses are the ultimate reality.

1. Soul and God as ultimate reality = Idealism.
2. Nature as the ultimate reality is the stand of Naturalism.
3. Hence realism → matter (the objective physical world).

Short trick: Idealism = mind/soul, Naturalism = nature, Realism = matter (things as they are).

Concept: Sri Aurobindo rejected repressive discipline; he wanted self-discipline to grow from within through moral and spiritual education and the teacher’s example.

1. ‘Nothing can be taught’ – the teacher is a helper and guide, not a task-master.
2. Punishment and force are against his integral education; mere social approval is external.
3. Moral education (example, suggestion, love) builds inner discipline.

Short trick: Aurobindo: no rod, no force – discipline through moral/spiritual growth.

Concept: Vivekananda: ‘Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man’; its ultimate aim is self-realisation, i.e. spiritual development.

1. He also wanted physical, moral (character) and vocational education, but as means.
2. The final goal is realisation of the divinity within – spiritual development.

Short trick: Vivekananda: perfection already in man → spiritual (ultimate) aim.

Concept: Social stratification is the ranking of people into layers (strata) – caste, class, status – in a hierarchy of unequal positions.

1. Social mobility = movement of individuals from one stratum to another.
2. Transformation/development = change or progress of society, not its layered division.

Short trick: Strata = layers → stratification = layered (hierarchical) division.

Concept: Article 46 (Directive Principle): the State shall promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections, in particular SCs and STs, and protect them from social injustice.

1. Art. 42 – just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief.
2. Art. 62 – time of election to fill vacancy of President.
3. Art. 75 – Prime Minister and Council of Ministers.

Short trick: 46 = weaker sections’ education (DPSP); also remember 45 = early childhood care, 21A = RTE.

Concept: A. K. C. Ottaway (Education and Society) held that education is a conservative function – cultural changes arise first in society and education follows them.

1. Ottaway: ‘Education follows social change rather than initiates it.’
2. Dewey, by contrast, saw education as an instrument of social reconstruction (education leads change).
3. Durkheim stressed education as socialisation of the young generation.

Short trick: Ottaway = education Only follows; Dewey = education Drives change.