A Renewed Face, Imperative for Enhancing The Quality of Social Work Education in India

Abstract

Social work education in India requires a significant facelift in the wake of quality erosion which has adversely impacted against professional interests. The very nomenclature “Social Work” in the award of University Degrees, the deficits in practice methods, want of a licensing system, denial of recognizing BSW/MSW/MA (Social Work) as professional courses, and the like are obvious triggering factors that add fuel to the fire. The general public has a misconstrued version of social work education, having a feeling that the course is too redundant and insignificant to be identified as a discipline for university learning. People by and large take social work as social service like charity, voluntarism or altruism and obviously they ask, what is there to be seriously studied in social work. A simple and psychological approach, rather than complex exercises for building up academic credibility, is to change the coinage from social work to social empowerment in the award of University Degrees, such as BSE – Batchelor of Social Empowerment / MSE – Master of Social Empowerment / MA – Social Empowerment. The art of naming of an academic course reflects the science of phraseology, a factor that should never be compromised in showcasing the productiveness of a profession. A homogenized schooling, envisioning uniformity in theory & practice learning and generation of a databank-based knowledge pool for accessing indigenous information is the next desirable step. Public demand is the litmus test of the effectiveness of social work profession, which cannot be expected to surface impulsively. A concerted effort is necessary on the part of social work pundits to standardize social work education and improve practice strategies whereby benefits reach out to people through and through