Career in social work
Ranjan K Baruah *
Many students ask me about the scope of Social Work as
a subject. Some thinks that after completing a course in Social
Work, job is readily available. Many students who have done
MSW are yet to be employed but it is not only the course
or the qualification. Aspirants must have skill apart from
qualification to be well placed.
Today, I am writing on social
work as career and institutes which are credible. There are
many options and opportunities but one must know about
them and plan it well.
Making a career in social sector is always prolific and
young people have started taking social work as a career. The
paradigm of social work has changed and now people gets
themselves professionally engaged in the development sector.
The demand has increased for development professionals. A
professional and development worker does not merely work
for the people but s/he works with the people for social
transformation which enhances growth in the society and
helps the nation in progress.
A Master’s degree in Social Work (MSW) is designed to
teach and prepare people with scientific temper, democratic
attitude, and secular value to manage social and development
agencies.
MSW helps to prepare you to be trained and
prepare how strategy can be prepared for social change in the
society. With the increasing number of voluntarily organisation
or non governmental organisation and other civil society organisation the demands of people with MSW background has
increased.
The scope is not only confined to country but the entire world can be an area of work for committed and trained dynamic people. Any graduate may opt for MSW.
Like MSW, students may take admission in BSW which is graduate level course. Students after passing senior secondary may opt for BSW course. There are some institutes that provide integrated course which is for five years.
Institutes like Tata Institute of Social Science, Delhi School of Social Work have been offering job oriented courses and the interest of joining this institutes have increased. The course related to social work in post graduate level is MA in Social Work and in graduation level it is known as BA in Social Work or BSW in simple.
These courses are common in North East now a day and there are private universities apart from government universities that provide courses related to social work.
TISS has started its campus in Guwahati and it is offering different other courses similar to social work. Universities like Assam University, Mizoram University, Dibrugarh University, Nagaland University, Rajiv Gandhi University, Tezpur University, etc are imparting the courses related to social work.
Students passing out the master’s course gets placement in different agencies based on their specialisation. It may be psychiatric social work in clinics, counsellors in different counselling centres, etc. There are also placements in government projects like in National Health Mission, National Rural
Livelihood Mission, National Urban Livelihood Mission, Sarba Sikhsha Abhiyan, etc.
Apart from government agencies more scopes are available with community groups, voluntary agencies, non governmental organisations, social research institutes,
etc. Many United Nations’ organisation like UNICEF, UNDP prefers trained and well educated social worker.
Career in social work is unique in its kind as it helps individuals and society together. All those who are passionate about change and want to bring a change can opt it as their means of earning and working. It’s a challenge for the young people to make a good society and social work gives you opportunity to do whatever you want to do in your society.
One must remember that mere degree may not be enough to get placement. One must have employability skills to be successful through social work.
* Ranjan K Baruah wrote this article for The Sangai Express
The writer is a career mentor and can be contacted at bkranjan(AT)gmail(DOT)com
This article was posted on June 01, 2017.
* Comments posted by users in this discussion thread and other parts of this site are opinions of the individuals posting them (whose user ID is displayed alongside) and not the views of e-pao.net. We strongly recommend that users exercise responsibility, sensitivity and caution over language while writing your opinions which will be seen and read by other users. Please read a complete Guideline on using comments on this website.