CHENNAI: The state School Education Department (SED) has decided to implement Pre-Assessment Holistic Screening Tool (PRASHAST) application 2.0, a national screening tool developed by the NCERT for health screening of students from the 2026-27 academic year to facilitate the systematic identification of Children with Special Needs (CwSN) and strengthen inclusive education initiatives.
The health screening of students studying in government, government-aided and private schools has so far been carried out by teachers through the Health Screening Module in the TNSED Schools App, said a circular issued by the Samagra Shiksha.Launched nationally by NCERT in 2022, PRASHAST is a school-based screening application designed to help teachers identify children who may have disabilities and require further assessment.
As per the implementation plan, chief educational officers (CEOs) have been asked to oversee the rollout of the app in all districts.
General teachers will undertake the first stage of disability screening between August 15 and September 15, after which special educators will carry out the second stage of screening for students identified in the initial assessment.
As per the latest UDISE+ report, a total of 1,29,452 children with special needs are enrolled in schools across the state.
