Mission welfare
Saloni Dahra, 25, took up sociology in college because of her interest in social sciences. It became easy then to look at the society and the ground realities around her with an expert’s eye. Soon, the desire to help others became a mission as she enrolled for a Masters in social work.
Today Dahra is a project coordinator in Modicare Foundation, the K K Modi group of industries’ corporate social responsibility arm, also registered as an NGO. Her first month’s salary, when she joined Modicare Foundation as a project officer on adolescent health issues two years back, was Rs 15,000. Today she is drawing Rs 25,000.
Prof Sanjai Bhatt, Head, Department of Social Work, Delhi University, gives a different twist to welfare work when he says: “We have too many philanthropists and there is no denying the fact that charity is important… but that is not sufficient. We should know how to help people without affecting their dignity and individuality. We work with the oppressed and marginalised people, primarily. At the same time, we work with anyone who is in need of help at different levels, be it physical, emotional, administrative, individual, group or community. So a social worker can work with various cross sections of the society at micro and macro levels.”
Vinita Nathani, Executive Director, Prerana, an NGO that works for integrated community development, says that in spite of the fact that new institutions offering social welfare as study programmes are coming up, there is something terribly wrong with the way people perceive social work. “They think anybody with free time can become a social worker. They do not understand the necessity of a trained social worker and the difference s/he can make. This lack of awareness is a reason behind the inadequate number of trained personnel,” she says.
There is also no state recognition, says Prof Bhatt. “The state does not recognise social work as a profession. We do not have any council on social work as there is in countries like the US, the UK, Australia or even Ireland. Five per cent of our students move out to these countries every year, enhancing the demand-supply gap,” he points out.
Author: Pranab Ghosh
New Delhi, 9 Sep, 2009
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