Space & Significance for
Professional Social Work in
India
In an era when the concept of social
development is on the spotlight as an indicator for assessing the true wealth and
status of a nation, we have many undercurrents that keep pushing it to the top
of the discussion table of practically every segment in the society. Whether
there is merit or not in those discussions is not a big deal; but what is to be
noted here is that everyone wants to be identified with the concept of social
development in some way or the other.
It is in this scenario, it may not be out of
place to mention that there is a cult of professionals who are keen to be
counted by having the appropriate space and significance accorded to them for
contributing their might towards the cause of social development with a
professional touch. Without any doubt we are talking about the cult of
individuals who belong to the discipline of ‘Professional Social Work’ who are
confined within a certain boundaries for far too long.
Social work as a profession in our country
has been in existence right from the early days of our nation’s independence
during 1947. The deep rooted intervention of social work can be vividly
recounted in many areas of welfare, rehabilitation, education and community
development initiatives as there are numerable testimonies in the pages of
history for all to see.
We cannot deny the fact that social work as a
concept emerged from the west and then came into India as a consolidation of
charity based intervention. Social work
profession in India is firmly grounded in the Fundamental Rights and Directive
Principles of State Policy as enshrined in the Indian Constitution, and in the
United Nations (UN) Declaration of Human Rights. What is of concern is that,
despite its deep rooted existence in the Indian social landscape, yet it craves
for proper recognition at the national level as a profession with appropriate
mechanism and statutory bodies for recognition and regulation, so that the
profession is taken very seriously.
Insights into the world of professional
social: Social work is often viewed as any
intervention on a voluntary basis in the society and largely associated with
the non-governmental sector, which is not entirely true, since it operates much
beyond the non - governmental set up.
The National Council for Social Work
Education in India defines Professional Social Work as “an internationally
recognized academic discipline and practice based profession, based on
knowledge, methods, and skills of working with people and systems. It is built
in the foundations of values and ethics of human dignity, sensitivity to
structural realities, and respect for diversities. It promotes social justice and social development, guided
by the Indian Constitution and by India’s commitment to International Human
Rights Law”.
In the meantime, it is common to find many
categories of people calling themselves as so called social workers, since they
are engaged in some sort of public activity on a social service basis. There is
no harm any way in their self proclamation, but what needs to be sorted out or
clarified is that whether all of them could be classified as professional
social workers? Those who belong to this category often take it as a
decorative or fashionable venture to use it as a tag for their social
recognition. Their activities largely centre around distributing some takeaways
on specified days like their birthdays, anniversaries of festival occasions.
Professional social work is much more than
charitable service. It based on a systems approach with many interventions
firmly grounded on sound theoretical principles to make the life and
environment better for those who gets past through it at any point of their
life. The common story which is shared in a lighter vein among the social work
students by their professors is that, when you meet a hungry man, don’t just go
and give him a fish to eat and stop with that. Instead, teach him the art of
fishing so that he can sustain his life with dignity based on self reliance.
Core Competency of Social Work Professionals:
Professional Social Work as a comprehensive
process starts with working to empower individuals, families, groups,
organizations and communities to enhance their well being and increase their
problem solving capacities. It stands as crusader to address and challenge
barriers, inequalities, and injustices that exist in society by facilitating
the inclusion of marginalized, socially excluded, dispossessed, vulnerable and
at- risk groups of people.
It assists people on the awareness creation
and sensitization level about the various welfare and developmental schemes,
projects, programs and initiatives that are provided by the government and
allied agencies. It also stands out as a valuable source for the developmental administrators
to plan, organize, administer and manage programs both at the Voluntary Sector
and at the Institutional Sector to advance the concept of Social and Human
Development.
The success of the professional social work
as a concept and practice methodology is very much based on the expertise of
the professionals involved. They have sufficient practice skills in knowledge
of assessment and relationship building to help the process to achieve the
targeted outcome. Professional social workers operate with ethical principles
in encountering / confronting inequality in socio-political spheres, address
challenges in economic injustices and gender aspects recognizing the
inter-connectedness that exists within and across all systems at Micro, Mezzo
and Macro levels.
Professional Social Work can be an inclusive
part of developmental administration: All
the social, welfare and developmental policies that are promoted through the
government mechanism are a result of a process that is centred around the
perspectives of the officials based on the principles and polices of the
political dispensation that is in power. There is nothing wrong about since
this has been the practice of the past and also the present, which in all
likelihood will be the pattern in the future as well.
We
also need to accept and acknowledge that there have been considerable efforts
on the part of the government at the national level to tackle many social and
developmental issues which have grown over a period of time as threatening
problems. Various social legislations and statutory provisions are also enacted
to help in providing assistance and protection to people in need and distress. This is in addition to the state
governments’ efforts at their level to address the social and developmental
issues with the resources at their disposal. These energy and efforts are never
to be undermined, at the same time there is no harm in looking at an objective
angle of assessment of them from the point of view of efficacy of them in
alleviating the issues in tune with the present times.
What we need here is an inclusive mechanism
to provide space for the Professional Social Work personnel to be part of the
system at the policy level, program development level, implementation level and
also at the evaluation level, so that they could blend the authority of
governance and power of doing good with that of humanistic concern based on the
aspect of human development for which they are adequately qualified and
trained.
The
possible way forward: It is
always wise and prudent to be part of the solution than to be part of the
problem and keep blaming the system, for which we have no answers. We need a
paradigm shift in the very basic approach of handling developmental
administration; we need to move away in qualitative and quantitative terms from
a ‘top-down approach’ to that of a ‘bottom-top approach’. The best window that
can be opened up for involving professional social workers is at the local body
level, in which the real transformation of the various policies is supposed to
take place.
The ladder of inclusivity and synchronization
of support in a professional approach can move up to the Taluk level and to the
District level in which the panchayat, municipal and civic corporation
structures come into the reckoning. It is here that when many agencies
coordinate and collaborate to implement the various schemes, there would be a
great scope for professional social workers to offer their expertise in program
implementation.
The next stage is at the state level in which
there will be an opportunity for the professional social workers to be part of
the policy making team or structure. It is yet another vital space that the
social workers can bring in their vast experience, expertise and professional
knowledge into focus by providing a component of value addition to the
administrators.
Social schemes and programs are not just
material units that can be distributed and moved away from the scene; rather it
must provide an opportunity and a canvas to work on the mindset of the
beneficiary. This can be done effectively if the policies are people centric
including within it a structure for accommodating the specific needs of people
at the grass root level for better coverage, acceptance, consumption and
successful transformation of their lives in accordance to the schemes or
policies. It is here that the role of professional social workers comes into
play in garnering the support of civil society, and micro level organizations
to social development initiatives, programs and projects.
Challenges
faced and the need for course correction:
It
is a matter of reality that we are witnessing an aggravation of social problems
in addition to poverty eradication, rural development, public health,
employment etc. We are currently witnessing many new issues related to human
trafficking, destitution of older persons and violence against vulnerable
groups, rehabilitation and inclusion of persons with disabilities into the
social mainstream, environmental degradation and loss of livelihood due to
climate change, growing culture of drug and substance abuse, domestic violence
and human right violation etc.
This
calls for augmentation of skilled manpower to get engaged in various capacities
to address these aspects with continuing education, training and development as
part of their professional career enrichment in the field of professional
social work. This apart, the engagement of professional social workers in terms
of employment and career opportunities in various sectors is largely
unregulated with varied working conditions. The salary and other working
conditions are not justifiably satisfactory on a wider scale while taking into
consideration of the lahks of them languishing without any feature of job
security in the private sector.
Need for recognition: Concerted efforts are being taken at the
national level to bring to light the much anticipated legal and structural
framework for Social Work Education and Practice in our country. Yet there is
no much progress in this regard which is a sorry state of affairs in the modern
era of governance.
There
have been many attempts in the past to get the National Council started like
the “National Council of Professional Social Work in India Bill, 1993” and the
“National Council of Professional Social Work Practitioners Bill, 2018”, which
were carried out by select group of eminent social work educators and
practitioners in the country giving much impetus to carry forward the need to
establish a professional council for social work in our country.
At
present thanks to the efforts of Niti Ayog, recently an initiative in the form
of a meeting of select social work educators across India was called to discuss
the need for a national council for social work. The deliberations of the
formal meeting led to the formation of a select group of eminent social work
educators who prepared a Draft Bill on a National Council for Social Work
(Education and Practice), Bill 2020. There are attempts to get a wider
consultation for the draft from among social work educators / institutions and
practitioners both at the government and non- government level.
Given
the fact that the society needs professionally educated and trained manpower in
the domain of professional social work to address various issues related to
human conditions; community development; human resource management; health and
welfare of people, especially children and women; welfare of the marginalized
and elders; disabled welfare and rehabilitation programs; rural reconstruction;
urban planning & development; corporate social responsibility initiatives
and disaster management etc. It is only imperative that the formation of such a
council will bring more advantages to the education and professional aspects of
social work within the country.
In
conclusion: Our country will
eventually stand to gain if we acknowledge the need to accord the deserving
space for professional social work to be absorbed into the governmental and
institutional setup at various levels of developmental administration. This is
imperative and unquestionably a very pragmatic need of the hour, if we are to
make rapid strides with a broad based community foundation in terms of
achieving a higher status of human and development index, which would also be
instrumental in making the lives of our people comfortable, happy, contended
and dignified.
-
Nicholas
Francis
Note About the Author:
Ø Nicholas
Francis, the author of the “Handbook of Professional Practice & Career
Development in Social Work” holds a Masters Degree in Social Work from Bishop
Heber College in Tricuchirappalli along with a ‘University Rank from the
Bharathidasan University’ for the same during the year 1991.
Ø He
can be reached at nicholasmdu@gmail.com
