Question

The Society for Education in India (in short SEI) had been engaged in running primary schools in different parts of the country since the 1950s. While attending a conference on employee selection, Mr J. Mehta, a senior member of the society, learned that a leading school had recently employed a psychologist to perform employment functions, i.e., recruitment and selection of teachers. Within two months of his return, Mr J. Mehta contacted a reputed university and employed a graduating psychologist, Mr Bibek Gupta.

Mr Bibek Gupta was employed by SEI with the single directive that he was to contribute to the selection of teachers. This task had previously been the prerogative of the principals of each school. Mr Gupta immediately notified each principal that in future he was to be notified of the personnel needs, and in return he would recruit, screen, and select the teachers.

At the end of his first year with SEI, Mr Gupta realized that his efforts had resulted in failure. During his first few months he encountered much opposition from several principals who had been managing schools for ten or more years. They did not believe in newer psychological techniques and preferred selecting people based on their own assessment. Other principals frequently refused to accept the teachers selected by Mr Gupta. Finally, Mr Gupta began to notice fewer and fewer principals notifying him of vacancies in their schools. Realizing that he was not making any effective contribution, Mr Gupta submitted the suggestion to the society members that support and co-operation of the school principals should be a matter of executive order, or else his resignation should be considered.

Directions: For each question below, an answer (A) and a reason (R) are given. Base your analysis only on the information in the passage above. Mark your response using the code:
1. if both A and R are based on information given in the passage, and R is the correct explanation of A.
2. if both A and R are based on information given in the passage, but R is not the correct explanation of A.
3. if A is based on information given in the passage, but R is not based on the facts given.
4. if A is not based on information given in the passage, but R is based on the information given in the passage.
5. if both A and R are not based on information given in the passage.

Question: How were the changes in the recruitment and selection process received by the principals?
A: The principals rejected the new process in its entirety from the day it was introduced.
R: The principals were cynical of the abilities of the psychologist as far as recruitment and selection of teachers were concerned.

• A. Both A and R are based on information given in the passage, and R is the correct explanation of A.
• B. Both A and R are based on information given in the passage, but R is not the correct explanation of A.
• C. A is based on information given in the passage, but R is not based on the facts given.
• D. Both A and R are not based on information given in the passage.

Hint:

Compare A's claim of total, immediate rejection and R's claim about personal cynicism against what the passage actually says about gradual, method based resistance.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is D

Let's test assertion A and reason R separately against the SEI passage, the way this passage based question requires.

1. A: principals rejected the new process in its entirety from the day it was introduced: the passage shows resistance building up over Gupta's first year, coming from "several" principals, not all of them, and getting worse over time as fewer principals kept notifying him of vacancies. That is a slow, partial pushback, not a total rejection from day one, so A does not match the passage.
2. R: principals were cynical of the abilities of the psychologist: the passage's stated reason is that principals "did not believe in newer psychological techniques" and preferred their own long standing judgment, a general doubt about the method and a preference for their own authority, not a personal verdict on Gupta's competence. So R also does not match the passage.
3. Result: since both A and R bring in claims the passage does not support, neither passes the basic passage based test.

Let's summarize:

• The passage supports gradual, partial resistance, not the total, immediate rejection A describes.
• The passage supports resistance based on distrust of the method and reliance on experience, not personal cynicism about the psychologist, which is what R describes.

Since both A and R fail the passage test, the code is "both A and R are not based on information given in the passage." After the option fold this is option 4.