How children with special needs found their place in Mumbai's classrooms

Survey to spot children with special needs has led to a dramatic rise in their numbers in mainstream schools

For the first 14 years of his life, Javed Shaikh’s world was confined to the four walls of his house in Kala Tanki slum in Sewri, a lower-middle class locality on the eastern edge of South Mumbai. Javed was born with multiple disabilities: He has cerebral palsy with little control over his lower limbs, hearing impairment, and a squint. He spent his days either in bed or watching TV. He could not speak and insisted on eating only Kurkure, a packaged snack.

 Today, after therapy and four years in a regular school, Javed is a new person. He doesn’t like missing