Plenary at Indian Social Work Congress 2013

The First Indian Social Work Congress is being held between 23 and 25 February 2013, jointly organised by National Association of Professional Social Workers in India (NAPSWI) and Department of Social Work, University of Delhi. The theme of the Congress is Social Work Profession in India: Bridging Gaps and Building Bridgesand is primarily meant to introspect within, reflect upon and highlight some of the important challenges confronting the profession of social work. The two-day conclave will discuss and deliberate on issues and concerns emanating out of the contemporary persona and discourses of the profession reflecting and responding to the changing social-political realities of the time. Participants will audit both their achievements and lacunae jointly, followed by the development of collaborative and participative methodologies to revisit the present and emerging trends of the social work profession.

Dr Rajesh Tandon, President, PRIA will be addressing the plenary session on the first day of the Congress. He will be speaking on “Civil Society, Democratic Space and Social Work Profession in India Today”. Reforming democratic governance is the central challenge facing Indian society today. Citizens' movements against corruption, neglect, apathy and callousness of public institutions and government agencies are sprouting everywhere. Repression and seduction of such movements are the dominant responses of the political class. The social work profession has historically taken the side of the excluded and marginalised. In today's India, it has to stand up as a body of public intellectuals committed to reforming democratic governance to ensure equity, justice and dignity for all Indians.

Speaking on the occasion of the First National Convention of Social Work Profession in India, Dr Rajesh Tandon (President, Society for Participatory Research in Asia and UNESCO Co-Chair on Community-based Research and Social responsibility in Higher Education) called upon the profession to redefine its contemporary identity. As a profession, Social Work is more than an academic discipline; it has a body of knowledge and a methodology of practice which is unique to its professional identity. In his view, the Social Work profession began to make deviant individuals fit into the status quo of society; its lens on individual adjustment to existing mainstream tended to legitimise the status quo. However, in practice, many professional are increasingly focusing on mobilising collective actions for social transformation in a manner that makes democracy work for all Indian citizens. In this sense, Dr Tandon suggested that the central identity of the profession of social work is to prepare informed and active citizens who engage to make society and its governance democratic and accountable.

The field of social work today is vast and ever changing; society today is facing enormous challenges; contemporary model of economic development is increasing inequality; a vast section of society is unable to access basic services and claim entitlements due to them. Professionals in social work can stand by such excluded citizens and communities in ways that empower them. As a profession, a formal degree is not the real basis for professional identity; the values of commitment to the ideals and ethics of service make a profession. In that sense, social work profession can redefine its identity as promotion of active citizenship in making democracy work for all.

Dr Tandon also called upon the current and new professionals in social work to create mechanisms for benchmarking and upholding standards of learning and practice. In recent years, a vast number of schools of social work have mushroomed all over the country. In 1994-95, PRIA had partnered with Association of Schools of Social Work in India (ASSWI) to bring participatory research and participation of the excluded in the curriculum and teaching of social work education. That experience suggests that quality enhancement in the era of rapid expansion of social work education can indeed be challenging. A recent report suggests that nearly two-third of all private colleges are set up by politicians and realtors; that may indicate the growing concerns about quality of learning and seriousness of practice of this profession. While ‘elders’ in the profession may take certain steps to deal with this situation, Dr Tandon called upon the students of social work to organise themselves to demand better quality learning opportunities in all colleges; if the students want to be treated as future professionals, they must act in a manner today that enhances their learning of profession’s practices and knowledge in a serious manner.