What happened (Parliament Question reply by PIB)

The Ministry of Education (Department of School Education and Literacy) responded to a Parliament Question on the availability and deployment of Special Educators in schools under Samagra Shiksha. The reply explains: (1) administrative responsibility for teacher-related recruitment and service matters, (2) a deployment model for Special Educators across blocks/clusters in an itinerant way for CwSN, and (3) notified PTR norms for Special Educators in general schools, along with UDISE+ 2025–26 figures for schools that have a dedicated Special Educator.

Background and earlier position: where responsibility lies in school education

Education is a subject under the Concurrent List of the Constitution. Most schools are under the administrative control of the respective State governments and Union Territory (UT) administrations. Under the centrally sponsored scheme Samagra Shiksha, the Department supports States and UTs to provide equitable and inclusive quality education from pre-primary to Class XII.

The reply states that, within Samagra Shiksha, recruitment and other service matters relating to teachers, including Special Educators, fall within the domain of the respective State Governments/UT Administrations. Samagra Shiksha also allows Special Educators to be deployed at the block or cluster level as per requirement, with an itinerant role—covering a group of schools where children with special needs (CwSN) are enrolled—so that educational needs are addressed.

What changed now: PTR notification and UDISE+ 2025–26 coverage data used for monitoring

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