In the class, questioning by students

Concept: Modern child-centered, constructivist pedagogy (reflected in NCF 2005 and NCF-SE 2023, and in the teaching-methods portion of teacher-eligibility syllabi) treats a student's questioning as a marker of active cognitive engagement. A learner who asks a question is testing their own understanding, trying to fill a gap, and constructing knowledge rather than passively receiving it — so questioning is a sign of learning happening, not of indiscipline to be managed.

Application: Weighing the four classroom responses offered against this principle, only encouraging students to question fits an active, learner-centered classroom. Refusing to allow it, discouraging it, or stopping it altogether all suppress exactly the classroom talk — doubt-raising, clarification-seeking, curiosity-driven inquiry — that supports deeper understanding, and instead reflect an authoritarian, teacher-only-talks model of instruction.

Cross-check: Each of the other responses can be tested against the same principle and fails it for a related reason — treating questions as something to restrict, minimize, or shut down all assume the teacher's monologue should go uninterrupted, which contradicts the participative classroom that teacher-training syllabi (and NCERT guidance) call for. Only the response that welcomes questioning is consistent with that standard.