CXC English A exam: Past paper type summary writing question 15
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Here is another CXC past paper type summary writing question. This is the type of question that appears in SECTION ONE of the CXC CSEC English A exam SECTION ONE (Suggested time: 35 minutes) You MUST answer the question in this section |
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1. Write a summary of the following speech that sets out the issue of poverty and ways to reduce it. Your summary must be no more than 120 words. It must be in continuous prose and in paragraph form. Only the first 120 words of your answer will be read and assessed. |
| The elimination of poverty ranks among the greatest challenges in the world today. At every turn, we attempt to secure for our citizens opportunities to pursue further studies, either within the Caribbean or further afield. At home, we are ensuring that our own primary and secondary education systems reflect the needs of the region through teh careful review of curricula nationally and in collaboration with our Caribbean partners.
It is critical to generate economic growth in order to create employment opportunities because it is through private investment and strong economic activity that the potential to reduce poverty has the greatest impact. Diversification of the economy is crucial to poverty reduction efforts in terms of creating new flows for foreign exchange earnings, for job creation and personal income generation. The role of education, in close association with other social and economic factors, is important in poverty reduction. No country begins to have success without the education of its people and it is even more evident that breaking the cycle of poverty requires sustained, targeted and well-executed educational policies and programmes. One should immediately recognise that the issue of poverty reduction is complex, involving national and international elements, and an inter-relation of issues, all of which must be tackled at the same time to get the best results. But let us not for a moment believe that the issue of poverty is of concern only for developing countries. Economic giants such as the United States of America and developed countries in Europe also struggle with the issue of poverty. I believe that, now more than ever, serious programmes ae being undertaken to address the issue of poverty worldwide. While governments must take the lead role in creating the framework to fight poverty, it must be understood that there are critical roles for all sectors of the society to play. From the outset, therefore, one must understand that achieving a significant reduction in poverty takes a substantial combination of approaches. A well-known study has indicated that there is a high percentage of poor people in the work-force. The 'working poor' are characterised by elementary, low-level occupations that attract low wages, and low skills and educational achievement. The same study points to or identifies the lack of education and functional literacy as among the major causes of poverty. |
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Adapted from"St Kitts and Nevis continues to fight against poverty ". |
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(Total 30 marks) |
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Next summary question please |