The walls of the classroom are decorated with pictures of Shakespeare, buildings with domes, world mas abd beautiful valleys. How do these contrast with the world of the slum children?

Stephen Spender's poem, "An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum" is almost like an appeal to the affluent sections of society, to show some empathy towards the children living in the slums. Spender does this by providing a description of a typical classroom for children living in slums. The walls were painted long time back, there are pictures of Shakespeare, beautiful cities etc. However, these pictures do nothing to reduce the burden of the slum dwelling children. Instead it makes them want things that are beyond their reach. The pictures of beauty and affluence contrasts with the lives of the children since, they live in abject poverty. According to the poet, the children only receive the minimal education that does not provide them with options to explore the world. Thus, putting beautiful pictures on the walls of their classroom only increases their pain and does not help the purpose of education.