Which of the following statements are true about inquiry approach? (a) It…

The inquiry approach (inquiry-based learning) is a student-centred teaching-learning method in which learners build understanding by raising questions, investigating problems, and gathering and evaluating evidence for themselves, with the teacher acting as a facilitator of exploration rather than a director of pace. Because it relies on open-ended investigation, it typically needs sustained time rather than offering a shortcut to learning.

Checking each statement against this idea: (a) is true, since inquiry tasks are framed as problems that learners must work through, building problem-solving skill. (b) is true, since a defining feature of inquiry is training learners to gather data and evaluate its quality before drawing conclusions. (c) is false, because in an inquiry classroom the learner — not the teacher — largely sets the pace of investigation. (d) is false, because sustained questioning and evidence-gathering take time, so inquiry is not a quick route to learning.

• "(a) and (c)" keeps statement (c), the teacher-paced claim, which does not hold for a learner-directed method.

• "(b), (c) and (d)" keeps both the teacher-paced claim (c) and the quick-learning claim (d), neither of which describes inquiry-based learning.

• "(a), (c) and (d)" again keeps the teacher-paced claim (c) and the quick-learning claim (d) alongside a true statement.

• "(a) and (b)" keeps only the two statements that match how the inquiry approach actually works — building problem-solving skill and training evidence gathering/evaluation.

Since statements (a) and (b) alone hold, the combination "(a) and (b)" is the correct choice, consistent with the CTET 2024 Paper 2 official answer key.