socialwork

The Madras School Of Social Work (MSSW), 75-year-old and still going strong in providing an academic base and training for professional social workers, is offering a bachelor's degree in social work (BSW) beginning this academic year.
"At MSSW, we realised that two-year master's (MSW) course in social work is inadequate to prepare a professional social worker," says Fatima Vasanth, principal.
"In our institution, we train professional social workers to deal with human beings. Therefore, the objective of introducing this undergraduate degree is to provide the candidates adequate field experience. At the UG level they learn the fundamentals, and at the PG level they specialise in one chosen area, and altogether in those five years, their learning experience will be vast," she says.
MSSW plans to give preference to BSW degree holders for its MSW programme, although any graduate will still be eligible. "Those candidates with a 55 per cent pass mark in Plus-Two are eligible to apply for BSW, and during the interview, we look for certain characteristics in them, and depending upon our aptitude assessment, we select the candidates," says Shakeela Basheer, head and coordinator, BSW.
As social work is a profession for those with a strong desire to help improve people's lives, the applicants need to have some understanding of the various roles and responsibility of social work and also motivation to become a social worker.
Some self-awareness and empathy for others is an essential quality. Their awareness of and commitment to the values of social work and their ability to succeed academically determines their chances of getting admission. Functional Tamil to communicate with people is essential.
MSSW is affiliated to the University of Madras and its BSW course emphasises practical work (fieldwork) in addition to academic subjects. Sociology and psychology are the allied papers.
Students also learn about legal systems in India, human rights, health care, statistics, management of development issues and concerns and communication skills, apart from their core subjects.
"The transition from being a student to a professional social worker is monitored by a group of qualified and experienced teaching professionals and practitioners," says Prof. Fatima.
C. Vivekanandan, who has got admission to the BSW programme, says he wants to get into the IT industry in the area of human resource development.
"Anyone can do social service, but to be a social worker, one needs solid training, knowledge and motivation. Here they are involved in dealing with people who are in distress or facing a problem, and helping them live as confident individuals, " he says.

According to Hannah V. Stephen, who has just completed her MSW, professional social workers are in great demand, especially in the post-tsunami scenario, when there are many globally-sponsored relief projects in progress and the services of social workers are sought.
Ms. Hannah will soon be joining the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) and assist the project that deals with the mental health needs of the tsunami-affected victims in coastal Tamil Nadu.
"One should have the desire to work with people, knowledge in psychology, willingness to travel to rural and remote locations if they aspire to be a social worker,'' she says.
MSSW trains its students in street theatre and folk songs in order to reach out to the people. Their troupe `Minnal' has performed throughout Tamil Nadu.
Prof. Joseph Victor, head, department of counselling and guidance, says it is very important that social workers do not sympathise with their subject and that is why they are trained in controlled emotional involvement. What is required is empathy.
They are trained to withstand trauma and grief. They should refrain from being judgmental and work without biases. The institute offers M.Sc degree in counselling and guidance and advanced organisational behaviour. This is a job-oriented course launched two-years ago.
M. Jeeva, student of MSSW (M.Sc. Counselling and Guidance), says the career prospects of a trained social worker are good. Students are recruited even before the completion of their course by many NGOs, IT industry, corporates (human resource development) and industrial houses (labour officers), UN organisations and various other international organisations.
They are also employed in various government departments. This profession is well recognised abroad, and also, the job prospects are still high within the country.
"A degree in social work definitely has a lot of value," says Prof. Fatima Vasanth. A social worker also has the option of working for an organisation or doing freelance work and even set up his/her own NGO, she says.
While those with a BSW degree may join at a junior level, those with MSW or M.Phil join at a higher level with greater responsibilities and higher remuneration.
The scope and potential for social work is wide locally and nationally, and as the principal says, "Everything under the sun is the concern of a social worker."
MSSW is located at 32, Casa Major Road, Egmore, Chennai 600 008.