Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, Minister for School Education, launched the Nalam Naadi app on Jan 9 to help special educators track students with learning disabilities in Chennai.

The students are subjected to health screenings conducted by the school's teachers. This information is then fed into the health app, which is part of the School Education department's Education Management Information System (EMIS).

"There was never a database for special children because school teachers had to attend to their responsibilities." As a result, in order to cater to the children's needs and tailor a curriculum that would be beneficial to them, this app was launched," said a department official.

The special educators re-check the students for the 21 disabilities that their teachers might have flagged them for. Once confirmed, they are then referred to doctors at a district-level intervention centre for further treatment. This app will be available in a week, the official added as they are in the process of mapping their special educators.

In the meantime, the Minister launched Direct Debit Transfer (DBT) for students at Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Residential Schools. The initiative was launched to encourage female students to pursue higher education. With this in mind, a total of 9,870 students at these schools will have Rs. 200 credited to their bank accounts each month in an effort to reduce any delays.

In addition, the department launched a grievance redressal portal where teachers from government-aided schools can register any complaints. "As this facility was available for the government school teachers, a separate portal has been designed for the government-aided school teachers," according to a Department of Education press release.