EARLY DETECTION OF DISABILITIES IN CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS IN INDIA: ROLE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND INCLUSIVE EDUCATION POLICIES

India’s initiatives to uplift and protect the rights of Children with Special Needs (CwSN) started in 1974. This began with the Integrated Education for Disabled Children (IEDC) scheme, which placed CwSN in mainstream schools [6]. These measures have their basis in the Constitution of India, mainly under Article 14, which provides equality and necessitates reasonable classification to provide support for CwSN, and Article 21 safeguards their inherent dignity. In the year 2002, the 86th Amendment of the Constitution of India came into force, and Article 21A was introduced, providing the right to education for children aged 6 to 14 years as a fundamental right, specifically covering inclusive education (also reinforced in Avni Prakash v. National Testing Agency (2023) 2 SCC 286). Moreover, the Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSPs), such as Articles 41 and 46 of the Constitution of India, lay down a positive responsibility on the State to provide public aid and advance the educational needs of the weaker sections, including those with disabilities [2].

The legal landscape evolved from the medical-model lens of the 1995 Disabilities Act to the rights-oriented Right of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016. Effective from 2017, this Act increased the number of recognised disabilities from 7 to 21 and also mandated a 5% reservation in education and government jobs [11]. Importantly, a legal obligation was placed on institutions to ensure accessibility and non-discrimination, thus strengthening the right to inclusive education and reasonable accommodation when read together with the Right to Education Act 2017 as amended up to date.

Recent judicial developments have further strengthened the RPwD Act. In Gulshan Kumar v. IBPS (2025 INSC 142) (Feb 2025), the Supreme Court struck down the “40% benchmark” cap on accommodations, holding that any person with a disability is eligible to a scribe, as failure to provide the same amounts to indirect discrimination [9]. A similar stance of the Supreme Court was seen in In Re Recruitment of Visually Impaired and Judicial Services (2025 INSC 300) (March 2025), where the Supreme Court took a Suo Moto Cognisance and struck down discriminatory rules under Rule 6A of the Madhya Pradesh Judicial Service Rule 1994, holding that the State is obliged to ensure inclusion through affirmative action. The Court held that reasonable accommodation is a precursor to eligibility assessment, ensuring that disability is not a hindrance to professional judicial service [16].

The Delhi High Court recently exercised these principles in the case of private schools in G.D. Goenka Public School v. Aadriti Pathak (2025 SCC OnLine Del 6211) (Sept 2025). In this case, the Court stepped in when the school withdrew the admission of an 8-year-old child diagnosed with mild autism, citing behavioural issues. The Court relied on expert opinions from the Committee headed by an associate professor from IHBASM (Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences) and held that behavioural issues should be addressed with institutional support, not withdrawal or exclusion. The Court held under sections 3, 16, 17, and 31 of the RPwD Act that extending inclusive education to students is institutes statutory obligation and not based upon discretionary practices. The Court ordered the school to re-admit the child to an age-appropriate class and allow a parent-appointed shadow teacher. The school was also directed to comply with the monitoring process of the Directorate of Education to ensure a non-discriminatory and inclusive environment [15].

Just as the Court ordered reasonable accommodation in these specific cases, the State must now strive to institutionalise these accommodations for every child who requires them and can thrive in an inclusive environment.

The executive has taken proactive steps toward inclusive education, mainly through the SAMAGRA SHIKSHA INITIATIVE. This integrated initiative allocates funds to districts to identify CwSN (Children with Special Needs) and provide them with necessary support, such as corrective surgeries, hearing aids, mobility devices, and braille books [3]. The Samagra Shiksha has been approved for continuation from 1st April 2021 to 31st March 2026 with an estimated outlay of ₹2,94,283.04 crore, reflecting a significant expansion in financial commitment toward inclusive and equitable school education. The scheme currently covers 11.6 lakh schools, over 15.6 crore students, and 57 lakh teachers in Government and aided schools [18].

Apart from infrastructure development, the SAMAGRA SHIKSHA initiative also ensures the enforcement of the Right to Education Act, 2017, as amended up to date (Right to Education Act) by providing stipends to girls with special needs and ensuring barrier-free access to schools. The initiatives even provide home-based education to children with multiple disabilities up to Class XII [3]. To add to this, the MoE (Ministry of Education) and NCERT have been working on teacher training through modules on inclusive education and the development of accessible UDL (Universal Design of Learning for effective classroom)-based textbooks, such as Barkha [12]. The National Education Policy, 2020, further integrates disability inclusion by making it mandatory for all schools to provide reasonable accommodation and mother-tongue education [10].

As per the findings of the UNESCO report in 2019, early identification in India is still not adequate [5]. To address this issue, the government and NCERT introduced PRASHAST (Pre-Assessment Holistic Screening Tool) in 2022 under the SAMAGRA SHIKSHA SCHEME [13]. This mobile application enables teachers to screen students for the 21 disabilities identified under the RPwD Act in two separate phases. In Part 1, teachers use their everyday observations, while in Part 2, teachers or counsellors conduct specialised screening. The application provides school-level reports to identify children who need expert assessment or formal certification [1].

Since its national launch on Teachers’ Day in 2022, PRASHAST has successfully screened around 92 lakh children as of 2025 [14].Students who are identified in the first phase are referred to the district resource centres for clinical diagnosis and intervention. This systematic approach, combined with the use of digital platforms such as UDISE+, will help shift from ad-hoc identification to a data-driven approach, ensuring that children with disabilities are identified early enough for interventions to be effective.

However, the effectiveness of PRASHAST is largely dependent on the educator’s capacity to identify these minute behavioural patterns, such as social isolation or speech delays, in crowded classrooms. This, in effect, places the teacher in the role of not only an educator but also the first point of contact for diagnosis, a scenario that many may still feel ill-equipped to handle. To counter this challenge and ensure that no child is left undiagnosed, AI-assisted screening tools such as Neurolens from Gabify can be a completely impartial and objective partner for schools and healthcare centres, offering a technological safeguard for early intervention.

PRASHAST is a generalist government tool for schoolteachers, whereas Gabify’s “Neurolens” is an AI-powered platform for clinical and institutional use. It was developed by a healthtech startup in 2023. Neurolens was developed to enable early detection of autism, speech or developmental issues using technology [4].

It adopts a hybrid B2B SaaS business model to enable early detection of autism and developmental delay. Based on a few-minute video or audio clips of a child’s speech patterns, eye gaze, and motor responses, the platform provides a science-based screening report in various languages [8]. According to Gabify, this technology enables a 75-80% reduction in assessment time, turning a process that takes days into a 5-10-minute activity [4]. The platform is validated by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and AIIMS, Jodhpur. Gabify is committed to ethical AI, adopting a transient data model that retains data for only 30 days to safeguard user privacy [8][7].

Though both tools share a mission of early intervention, they function in fundamentally different ways.

Ultimately, it is the framework that PRASHAST offers, coupled with the technological advantages that Gabify brings to the table. The inclusion of NEUROLENS within the SAMAGRA SHIKSHA UMBRELLA may just offer a solution that replaces tedious manual processes with cutting-edge technology that enables rapid screening.

The launch of PRASHAST 2.0 in 2026 is a clear indication of a commitment to data-driven inclusion, but the problem of subjective observation still exists. A Public-Private Partnership would be the game-changer that the sector needs. It can revolutionise the landscape by:

The new paradigm of empowerment that India is adopting is a highly advanced one, and this is reflected in the 2026 Inclusive Education Summit. While PRASHAST 2.0 is being integrated with UDISE+, platforms like Gabify are the missing link that connects policy to implementation. The use of AI-data not only assists in the screening of children but also provides a macro perspective on the prevalence of disability in an anonymised statistical form. This can assist the government in formulating policies and resource allocation in areas where they are most required.

Through the interlinking of high-level government policies with nimble innovation in the private sector, India is poised to enter a future where inclusive education is the norm and not the exception. The agenda is clear: to tear down obstacles so that every child has an equal chance at a life of dignity.