1. CHALLENGES FACED BY CARETAKERS AND SPECIALEDUCATORS UNDER SSA PROJECT IMPLEMENTED BYSEVAI - TIRUCHIRAPPALLI. BEZALEEL AZARIAH J.Final Year MSWCommunity Development Management& B. ARUNKUMARAssistant Professor of Social Work Bishop Heber College (Autonomous)Tiruchirappalli - 620 017

2. INTRODUCTION The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is a missioninitiated by Union government in the 1970s toprovide quality elementary education to allchildren belonging to the age group 6 to 14years. SSA has made a concerted effort to promote theinclusion of children with special needs, thesystem faces challenges in identifying thesechildren and responding to their needs. Only around 1% of funds under SSA were spenton inclusive education earlier. The budget foreducating children with mild to moderatedisabilities in regular school settings hasincreased commensurately. India has 40 to 80 million persons withdisability. 3. SPECIAL EDUCATION Special need is a term that covers a widearray of definitions. Children with specialneeds may have mild learning disabilities orprofound mental retardation, food allergies orterminal illness, developmental delays thatcatch up quickly or remain entrenched,occasional panic attacks or serious psychiatricproblems. Depending on the condition, someof these children are able to go to mainstreamschools, while others are more suited tospecial schools or home schooling. 4. SPECIAL EDUCATORS & FAMILY MEMBERS Under the SSA scheme, special educators trainteachers of various schools and visit their assignedschools regularly to monitor the students progress. They also visit homes of the students and counselparents to tackle the problems of special children. As only one special educator would have to coverseveral schools, the frequency of visits and timespent at these schools is less. Families living with a disability face some uniquechallenges, but still they give opportunities for theirdisabled children to live full, active and excitinglives. 5. OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH Aim: To do a preliminary research on the challenges faced bycaretakers and special educators under SSA projectimplemented by SEVAI a Non Governmental Organization inTiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu. Objectives: To explore (Family Members) their abilities of caretaking andcoping up with the society. To understand the efforts taken by Special educators inhelping the (CWSN) Children With Special Needs. 6. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Research Design: Descriptive Design. Universe: Special Educators Under SSA Project IED SEVAI. Sample Size: 30 Special Educators & FamilyMembers. Sampling Method: Simple Random SamplingMethod. Tool for Data collection: A Self-PreparedQuestionnaire. 7. FINDINGS 8. LIFE CHALLENGE & SPECIAL EDUCATORS In the study conducted among the Special Educators ofIED-SEVAI it is found that: 90 % of the respondents face physical challenges in travelingto different schools in rural area for providing specialeducation and also there is Inadequate transport facility whichresults in skipping school Visits. 80 % of the respondents are unmarried female staffs and therest are married female staffs. 78 % of the respondents have higher level of stress when theyare allotted a school to educate a child and that child is absenton that day. 95 % of the respondents suggested that special educatorsshould be appointed in every schools in such a way that theylook after the CWSN daily. 9. LIFE CHALLENGE & FAMILY MEMBERS In the study conducted among the Special Educators ofIED-SEVAI it is found that: 95 % of the respondents has high acceptance level in growing uptheir differently abled children. 80 % of the respondents are having high stress level in droppingtheir children in normal schools. 40 % of the respondents are afraid to take their children out to publicplaces and doesnt need the society to know that their child isdisabled. 30 % of the parents are rich and they doesnt need any welfare to beprovided. 78 % of the respondents find it hard in teaching (Training)curriculum to their child. 10. CONCLUSION The Scheme of IED being the prime activity of SSAprogramme has done wonders to the welfare of the specialchildren. A lot of growth is experienced in the thinking andbehavioral pattern of the special children for which the roleof Family members and the Special educators of SSA are tobe appreciated. When this challenges faced by them are satisfied, certainlythe scheme of IED will go a long way in the process ofachieving equal opportunities for sustainable education forall in India.