Background

Despite considerable progress in widening access to schooling over the past two decades, inclusive education in India remains at an all-time low. A systematic review and meta-analysis that pooled six Indian studies and screened 8,133 children between them concluded that nearly 8% of children in India up to the age of nineteen have a specific learning disorder. The same review groups these conditions together: dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia and developmental aphasia, which affect reading, writing and arithmetic, the three skills on which almost all schooling rests.

A 2025 review of the Indian context notes that school screening for learning difficulties usually begins only at the age of eight, or in Class 3. A confirmed diagnosis then needs a pediatrician, a psychiatrist and a psychologist, and the country does not have enough of the last two. Schools that do appoint a special educator often find that the person has experience of physical disability rather than the training needed to help a child who struggles to read or calculate. The review also points out that many parents and teachers do not know the condition exists, so they never flag a child’s difficulty in the first place. These are children whose education, confidence, and future prospects are all in jeopardy; that is why they are more than mere numbers. Section 16 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act of 2016 requires educational institutions to detect specific learning disabilities in children at the earliest and to take suitable measures to address them. The duty is written down, but the practice is missing.

Learning Equity New Delhi (LEND) was established in April 2026 with a clear awareness of this context and a sincere desire to give back to the community. Our goal is to improve community-level action to support the vital, ongoing work of schools, educators, and non-governmental bodies to make classrooms work for children who learn differently. We hope to strengthen educational access and classroom inclusion for students with learning differences from underserved communities,