Disha - Early Intervention and School Readiness Scheme

What is the Disha scheme?

Disha is an early intervention and school-readiness scheme of the National Trust, a statutory body set up under the National Trust for the Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Act, 1999, which works under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. Disha is aimed at children aged 0-10 years with the disabilities covered under that Act, and it works by supporting registered organisations to set up Disha Centres for therapy, training and family support.

According to the National Trust, the core idea of Disha is early intervention - reaching a child in the first years of life, when structured therapy has the greatest effect on development. The scheme prepares children for inclusive education and wider participation in society by building life skills and school readiness before the child moves into mainstream or special schooling.

Disha is a service scheme, not a cash-transfer scheme. No money is paid into a family's bank account. Instead, the National Trust funds registered organisations to run centres, and families access therapy and day care through those centres.

Which disabilities and ages does Disha cover?

Disha covers the four disabilities specified in the National Trust Act:

• Autism
• Cerebral palsy
• Intellectual disability (referred to as mental retardation in the Act)
• Multiple disabilities involving two or more of the above

The scheme is designed for children aged 0 to 10 years. Early intervention in this age band focuses on developmental therapy, sensory and motor skills, communication, and preparing the child for a school setting.

What does a Disha Centre provide?

A registered organisation running a Disha Centre must, according to the National Trust guidelines, provide day-care facilities for at least 4 hours a day, between 8 am and 6 pm, with age-specific activities. Typical services include:

• Physiotherapy for motor development
• Occupational therapy for daily-living and fine-motor skills
• Speech therapy for communication
• Behavioural intervention and structured early-learning activities
• Counselling and training for parents and caregivers, so support continues at home

To deliver these, a Disha Centre is expected to have a special educator or early intervention therapist, a physiotherapist or occupational therapist, a counsellor, and caregivers and support staff.

Who is eligible for Disha?

A child can be enrolled if:

• The child is aged 0 to 10 years.
• The child has a disability certificate for autism, cerebral palsy, intellectual disability or multiple disabilities under the National Trust Act.
• The parents or guardian can access a registered Disha Centre.

Who cannot use Disha:

• Children above 10 years of age - for them the National Trust runs the Vikaas day-care scheme, and Disha-cum-Vikaas centres in some locations bridge the two.
• Children whose condition is not among the four National Trust disabilities are not eligible under this particular scheme.
• Organisations that are not registered with the National Trust cannot apply to run a Disha Centre.

Because Disha delivers a service rather than a personal cash benefit, there is no individual online application, income test or means test for the family in the way a scholarship or pension scheme has.

What documents are required for Disha?

How to apply for Disha

For parents and families, enrolment is done directly at a registered Disha Centre:

1. Find a registered Disha Centre near you. Use the National Trust website (thenationaltrust.gov.in) list of registered organisations, or ask your district disability office or local National Trust-registered NGO.
2. Visit the centre with the child's disability certificate, age proof and your own ID proof.
3. Complete the centre's enrolment and an initial assessment, after which the therapy and day-care plan for the child is drawn up.
4. Attend regularly so the child receives the daily early-intervention sessions the scheme is designed to provide.

For an organisation that wants to run a Disha Centre:

1. Register with the National Trust as a Registered Organisation (RO).
2. Apply under the Disha scheme guidelines, meeting the required staffing and infrastructure norms.
3. Run the centre as per the scheme's day-care, therapy and family-support conditions once approved and funded.

Help and contact

• National Trust general contact: 011-65216000
• Email: contactus[at]thenationaltrust[dot]in
• Office: 6th Floor, NISD Building, Plot No. G-2, Sector-10, Dwarka, New Delhi-110075

Because eligibility, staffing norms and the list of registered centres are updated by the National Trust from time to time, families should confirm the nearest active Disha Centre and current admission conditions with the National Trust or the registered organisation directly.

How to check your application status

Disha does not run on an online application-tracking portal because enrolment happens directly at a registered Disha Centre, not through a central digital submission. Even so, there are concrete ways for a parent to follow up once a child's papers have been submitted at a centre.

1. Ask the centre directly. The registered organisation running the Disha Centre is the first point of contact. After submitting the disability certificate, age proof and parent ID, ask the centre coordinator what stage the enrolment is at, whether the initial assessment has been scheduled, and when the child can start attending.
2. Follow up on the initial assessment. Most centres run a short assessment of the child before finalising the therapy and day-care plan. If this assessment has not happened within a reasonable time of submitting documents, treat that as the status check, a pending assessment means the enrolment is still incomplete.
3. Contact the National Trust if the centre is unresponsive. Where a registered organisation is slow to respond or a family suspects an irregularity, the National Trust's general helpline (011-65216000) or email (contactus[at]thenationaltrust[dot]in) can be used to ask the Trust to check on a specific centre's enrolment practices.
4. Check the centre's registration status separately. Because funding and continued recognition of a Disha Centre depend on the National Trust, a parent can also confirm with the Trust or the district disability office that the centre a child is enrolled at is currently an active, registered Disha Centre, this matters if a centre closes or loses recognition mid-year.

There is no SMS or portal-based tracking number issued for individual Disha enrolments, so keeping a written or photographed record of the date documents were submitted, and the name of the staff member who received them, is the most reliable way to follow up if there is a delay.

Common reasons for rejection

Because Disha is a service enrolment rather than a benefit disbursed after approval, "rejection" in practice means a child is turned away or held back from admission at a centre. The reasons are specific and each has a workaround.

• Child is outside the 0-10 year age band. A child older than 10 cannot be enrolled under Disha itself. The fix is to ask the same organisation, or the National Trust, whether a Disha-cum-Vikaas centre is available locally, since Vikaas is the National Trust's parallel day-care scheme for adults and older children with these disabilities.
• Disability is not one of the four covered under the National Trust Act. Disha only covers autism, cerebral palsy, intellectual disability and multiple disabilities. A disability certificate for a condition outside these four (for example, a physical disability alone with no intellectual or developmental component) will not qualify a child for a Disha Centre. The fix is to check which National Trust or other Ministry scheme actually matches the child's certified disability before applying.
• No valid or current disability certificate. An expired certificate, one issued for a different condition, or one pending re-assessment will delay or block enrolment. Getting the certificate renewed or corrected at the issuing medical board before approaching the centre avoids this.
• No vacancy at the nearest centre. Disha Centres have a fixed daily capacity set by their staffing and infrastructure. A child can be placed on a waitlist, or the family can check the National Trust's list of registered organisations for another centre within reach.
• No registered Disha Centre operating in the area. In many districts, especially rural ones, there may be no active Disha Centre nearby. This is not a rejection of the child's eligibility but a coverage gap, families in this situation should raise the gap with the district disability office or the National Trust so it is recorded, and check periodically for newly registered centres.
• Incomplete documentation at the time of enrolment. Missing age proof or an unclear or photocopied disability certificate that the centre cannot verify will pause the process. Bringing originals (or attested copies, as the specific centre requires) for verification resolves this quickly.