Special Education by Welfare of Differently Abled Persons Department

What is Special Education in Tamil Nadu?

Special Education is the schooling programme of the Department for the Welfare of Differently Abled Persons, Government of Tamil Nadu. Under it, children with disabilities are educated according to their need and physical disability, following the Government's policy of compulsory education for all with individual specific learning requirements.

Special Education is not a single cash benefit. Special Education is a package: free special education, free hostel, free food, free clothing and free educational materials for every student studying in a Government or Government-aided special school. On top of that, students receive scholarships, scribe assistance, reader's allowance and modern learning devices, an annual study tour, and, for day scholars, free travel facilities.

The scheme is best known by its Tamil description, sirappu kalvi, and by the older label "special schools for the blind and deaf". The department's 2025-26 policy note allocates Rs 9,149.17 lakh to Special Education, which is 6.38 per cent of the department's total allocation for the year. The third largest head after social security and the TN RIGHTS project.

Which schools run Special Education?

Tamil Nadu runs a three-layer network.

• 22 Government residential special schools. Ten function for visually challenged children and ten for hearing impaired children. One school serves intellectually challenged children and one serves severely affected locomotor disabled children. 1,094 children benefit from these 22 Government-run institutions.
• 48 Government-aided special schools. Of these, 9 are for the visually challenged, 17 for the hearing impaired, 7 for locomotor affected children and 15 for intellectually challenged children. 4,356 students get special education through these institutions.
• 323 special schools run by NGOs with grants-in-aid assistance from the Government.

Admission is need-based: the category of school follows the child's disability rather than the parent's preference, and the department maintains "various categories of schools functioning across the State" for that reason.

Who is eligible for Special Education, and who is excluded?

A child can claim if:

• The child has a disability certified by the appropriate medical authority. Special Education covers visual impairment, hearing impairment, intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, autism and locomotor disability, with schools organised by category.
• The child holds a disability certificate issued at a medical board in a Government Medical College Hospital, District Headquarters Hospital, Taluk or non-Taluk hospital, or at a departmental special camp.
• The child holds or has applied for a National Identity Disability Card (NIDC) or UDID card from the District Differently Abled Welfare Office.
• The child is resident in Tamil Nadu.
• For scholarships, the student is studying in a Government, Government-aided or recognised NGO-run special school at the relevant class level. There is no income ceiling on the special education scholarship.

A person cannot claim if:

• There is no disability certificate, or a temporary certificate has lapsed. An uncertified child is not eligible for the scholarship even if admitted informally.
• The student is not enrolled in a Government, Government-aided or recognised special school. The scholarship follows enrolment, not diagnosis alone.
• The claim duplicates a benefit already drawn from another welfare department for the same purpose and the same year.
• Residence is outside Tamil Nadu.

How to apply for Special Education in Tamil Nadu

1. Obtain the disability certificate. Attend a medical board at a Government Medical College Hospital, District Headquarters Hospital, Taluk or non-Taluk hospital, or a departmental special camp. The certificate records the type of disability and the percentage.
2. Obtain the NIDC or UDID card from the District Differently Abled Welfare Office on the basis of that certificate. The UDID is generated on the national portal after the certificate is uploaded, and is valid across the country.
3. Identify the right school. Ask the District Differently Abled Welfare Officer which Government, aided or NGO-run special school in the district serves the child's category. For visually challenged and hearing impaired children, the ten Government schools in each category are the first option.
4. Submit the admission application at the school with the disability certificate, UDID or NIDC card, Aadhaar, birth certificate or transfer certificate, residence proof and photographs. Collect the acknowledgement.
5. Open or provide a bank account in the student's name. Scholarship, reader's allowance and scribe assistance are credited to that account.
6. Claim the scholarship through the school at the start of the academic year. The institution consolidates claims and forwards them; individual students do not apply separately to the Commissionerate.
7. Claim the add-ons separately where applicable — reader's allowance for visually impaired students from standard 9 onwards, scribe assistance at Rs 300 per paper for examinations, and the cash incentive at 10th, 11th and 12th standard.

How much scholarship does a special education student get?

Scholarship amounts were doubled in 2023-24. The rates now in force are:

In the financial year 2024-25, Rs 1,441.62 lakh was spent to benefit 20,239 students. Rs 1,386.02 lakh is provided in the 2025-26 Budget Estimate.

Chief Minister's Research Fellowship. As an extension of the scholarship, differently abled students doing Ph.D. research receive Rs 1,00,000 as a fellowship. The scheme covers 50 students with an allocation of Rs 50.00 lakh; 4 eligible applicants who had applied were sanctioned Rs 1.00 lakh each.

Reader's allowance for visually impaired students, from standard 9 onwards: Rs 3,000 for 9th to 12th, Rs 5,000 for UG, Rs 6,000 for PG or professional degree. In 2024-25, Rs 65.67 lakh benefited 1,454 students, with Rs 100 lakh allocated for 2025-26.

Scribe assistance. Visually impaired students in standard 9 and above in Government and Government-aided special schools may use scribes, and scribe assistance of Rs 300 per paper is paid. In 2024-25, Rs 29.34 lakh benefited 535 students, with Rs 45.75 lakh allocated for 2025-26.

Uniform subsidy. The subsidy for school uniforms was raised from Rs 250 and Rs 300 to Rs 500 and Rs 600 for students in Government special schools and visually impaired students training in the Government vocational training centre. An additional Rs 11.66 lakh benefits 1,154 students.

Cash incentive against dropping out. To keep differently abled students in school after the 10th, an annual cash incentive is given: Rs 1,500 at 10th standard, Rs 1,500 at 11th and Rs 2,000 at 12th. The money is deposited in the Tamil Nadu Power Finance and Infrastructure Development Corporation and paid with interest after the student completes 12th standard. In 2024-25, Rs 20.52 lakh benefited 1,232 students.

Assistance to differently abled law graduates. Financial assistance of Rs 50,000 is given towards the purchase of books to differently abled persons who have completed law graduation and registered with the Bar Council. In 2024-25, Rs 20.00 lakh benefited 40 persons.

What learning technology do special schools provide?

• Smart classes. Touch screen boards attached to computer devices were supplied for hearing impaired children. High-tech electronic Braille devices were provided in all ten Government special schools for the visually challenged and in two regular schools of the School Education Department, at a total cost of Rs 100.08 lakh in 2021-22.
• QR-coded textbooks. For hearing impaired children in 1st standard, QR codes linking to sign-language explanations have been incorporated in textbooks at a cost of Rs 12.00 lakh.
• Modern reading devices. In 2023-24, reading devices were procured for 1,000 visually challenged students in higher education at Rs 13,200 each, a total allocation of Rs 132.00 lakh.
• Braille kits and tactile books. Universal Braille kits and tactile books costing Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 per kit were supplied to 430 students at a budget of Rs 34.50 lakh.

Who teaches in Tamil Nadu's special schools?

1,024 special educators serving in NGOs supported by the Government draw a monthly honorarium of Rs 18,000, raised from an earlier level. Rs 2,076.33 lakh was spent on this in 2024-25. A further 309 care assistants are engaged at a monthly honorarium of Rs 4,500 to care for children in NGO-run special schools, costing Rs 166.63 lakh. Together, Rs 2,510.17 lakh is allocated for 2025-26.

Teacher training runs through Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya Educational Research Institute (RKMVERI), Coimbatore, which has offered the Disability Management and Special Education (DMSE) and General and Adapted Physical Education and Yoga (GAPEY) courses since 2021-22. 573 persons were trained in 2024-25 at a cost of Rs 306.44 lakh, with Rs 455.00 lakh allocated for 2025-26.

What do special school children eat?

The monthly feeding grant for children in NGO-run and Government special schools was raised from Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,400. Around 5,998 hostel students in NGO-run schools and 1,072 students in Government-run schools benefited at an expenditure of Rs 820.19 lakh in 2024-25, with Rs 1,304.75 lakh provided for 2025-26.

Separately, weaning food and the noon meal were extended to children studying in NGO-managed special schools and Early Intervention Centres, benefiting 8,012 students in 2024-25.

Why applications fail

• No valid disability certificate, or a temporary certificate that has expired.
• UDID or NIDC card not obtained, leaving no departmental record to link the student to.
• Wrong category of school, a hearing impaired child admitted to a school for the intellectually challenged will be redirected at the assessment stage.
• Scholarship claim not routed through the institution. The school consolidates and forwards claims; a direct claim by a parent is not processed.
• Bank account details wrong or dormant, so the credit fails.
• Duplicate claim for the same purpose from another welfare department in the same year.

Help and grievance

• Toll-free helpline: 1800-425-0111, set up exclusively for differently abled persons at the State Resource cum Training Centre, Chennai.
• Hearing impaired persons: WhatsApp video call 9499933703.
• District level: the District Differently Abled Welfare Officer, located in the district Collectorate.
• State level: the Commissionerate for Welfare of the Differently Abled, No. 5, Kamarajar Salai, Chennai 600 005 to scd.tn.gov.in.

Admission, hostel, food, clothing and educational material are free in Government and Government-aided special schools. No agent can charge a fee to secure a seat.

How to check your application status

Special Education admission and the scholarship do not run through a single online tracking portal. Status has to be checked through the institution and the district office that actually process the claim.

• Admission status. Once the admission application is submitted at the special school with the disability certificate, UDID or NIDC card and other documents, follow up with the school's head teacher or warden directly for the acknowledgement and admission outcome. The school, not a website, decides and records admission.
• Scholarship status. Because the school consolidates and forwards scholarship claims for all its students rather than each parent applying separately, check with the same school office on whether the student's name has gone up in that year's list sent to the Commissionerate, and whether the amount has reached the student's bank account.
• UDID or NIDC card status. This is the one step with an online trail. If the UDID application was made on the national UDID portal after the disability certificate was issued, the applicant can log in with the enrolment number or registered mobile number to see whether the card is approved, still under verification, or returned for correction.
• District office follow-up. For anything not visible online, such as reader's allowance, scribe assistance, the uniform subsidy or the drop-out prevention incentive, contact the District Differently Abled Welfare Officer at the district Collectorate, quoting the student's name, school and class.
• Helpline. Call the toll-free number 1800-425-0111 for a status update on any of these benefits, or use the WhatsApp video call line 9499933703 for hearing impaired applicants who need sign-language assistance to communicate the query.
• State office. For a claim stuck beyond one academic term with no movement at the school or district level, write to the Commissionerate for Welfare of the Differently Abled, No. 5, Kamarajar Salai, Chennai 600 005, or raise it through scd.tn.gov.in.

Keep the school's acknowledgement slip and the UDID enrolment number on hand for every follow-up call, since neither the helpline nor the district office can trace a claim without them.