Social work — a fast emerging profession
Dharam Pal Singh
After the post-nineties structural adjustment programmes, one sector that has grown in size tremendously is the voluntary sector. While jobs in the government sector have reduced to a great extent, jobs in the voluntary sector have increased manifold. 

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Social work — a fast emerging profession
Dharam Pal Singh

After the post-nineties structural adjustment programmes, one sector that has grown in size tremendously is the voluntary sector. While jobs in the government sector have reduced to a great extent, jobs in the voluntary sector have increased manifold. Even multinational corporations and the big business houses in the country apart from NGOs have come up in a big way in the social sector, especially health, education and welfare. There are a large number of national and international agencies sponsoring social welfare programmes.

With this fast pace of development, professional social work has emerged as an area having a great job potential.

Though this profession is lesser known in India, it is widely acknowledged and reputed in countries like that USA, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea and China.

Social workers seek to help people in a way so that they are able to fulfil their roles by enhancing their capabilities. Social work is different than most other professions, as it not only involves one’s knowledge and skills but also values, beliefs and feelings.

The essence of social work is working with people — individuals, couples, families, groups or communities. It aims at helping people improve their quality of life by making appropriate changes in their social circumstances. Social workers help people solve a wide range of problems like conflicts in the family, behavioural and emotional problems like maladjustment, frustrations and worry. They also solve case-and-cause advocacy issues and lobby to change the social welfare policies of the government.

To be a professional social worker, one has to do MA in social work with specialisation in any of the areas namely personnel management and industrial relations, criminology and correctional administration, medical and psychiatric social work, family and child welfare, rural and urban community development and school social work. Almost all schools of social work in the country have training facilities, leading to higher degrees of M.Phil and Ph.D in social work.

Supervised practical experience, known as fieldwork, is an integral part of the academic inputs of each course in social work.

Social workers who specialise in the area of personnel management and industrial relations get jobs in the personnel, HRD, IR and welfare departments of the industries and commercial organisations as welfare officers, personnel officers, HRD executives, industrial relations executives and social security officers.

Social workers specialising in criminology and correctional administration work in institutions like prisons, reformatories, observation homes, juvenile homes and remand homes. The main job of social workers in these institutions is to create a positive environment for inmates. Social workers in this area also provide non-institutional services towards prevention of anti-social behaviour in society.

In the field of family and child welfare, social workers work for improving the quality of life of women, children, the aged and the infirm. These workers are employed in institutions working for the welfare of these venerable groups. A huge number of social workers also associate themselves with the government and also with non-governmental welfare programmes.

In the field of medical and psychiatric social work, they are generally employed in hospitals, sanatoriums, family planning clinics, drug and alcohol de-addiction centres. While a medical social worker looks into the psychosocial dimensions of a disease, a psychiatric social worker deals with the emotional and social aspects of a mental illness.

Community work forms an important area of social work where they work for rural development and community welfare. With the involvement and cooperation of community people, they deal with issues like sanitation, health, education, unemployment and protection of environment. These workers work in liaison with representatives of panchayati raj bodies, the non-government organisations, municipal corporation and educational institutions.

Social workers with good academic background may get jobs in international organisations like the UNDP, the WHO, UNICEF, UNESCO, the ILO and UN Volunteers.

Besides, social workers may also get jobs in social research institutions apart from teaching institutions like colleges and universities.

Though social work is being taught in the country since 1936 when the first school of social work was established by the Tatas in Mumbai, now known as the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, it was only in 1981 that the first social work school in this region was started at Kurukshetra University, followed by Punjabi University, Patiala, in 1987 and then HP University, Shimla, in 2003. While such unconventional courses have caught wide attention of the people in other Indian states, it is still to make a niche in the northwestern region of the country.

In Delhi, social work is being taught at Delhi University and Jamia Millia Islamia. Besides, IGNOU is planning to start it from this session. Apart from these institutions, there are two colleges affiliated to Delhi University, which teach social work to undergraduate classes only. The universities at Barelly, Jhansi, Banaras, Meerut and Aligarh have already started the course during the past two to three years. In other parts of the country, Maharashtra ranks at the top with 55, the maximum number of social work schools in a single state. Karnataka has around 15 schools followed by Kerala with about 10 institutions imparting social work education.

There are more than 15 schools in Uttar Pradesh and almost an equal number in Andhra Pradesh. In Rajasthan, there are 3 schools, the latest being established by the Jain Vishwa Bharati, Ladnun. A few among the oldest schools are DU, JMI, Lucknow, MG Kashi Vidyapeeth, Varanasi, Udaipur, Baroda, Agra, Mumbai and Madras. In total, there are more than 160 schools of social work in our country.

The writer is a lecturer, Department of Social Work, Punjabi University, Patiala.

A Although you could sign up for one of the several English teaching courses that have sprung up to cater to the call centre boom, nothing can beat your own effort to master the spoken language. It is not difficult if you set your mind to it. Just make it a point to listen actively and attentively to programmes in English on radio and TV. Focus on the correct pronunciation and intonation. Practise reading aloud from newspapers and books (in privacy of course)! You could even try speaking into the tape-recorder – making a careful note of the points where you falter or fumble.

Above all, the best way to polish your verbal skills is to practise conversing in the language. Make it a point to grab every opportunity you get to speak in English. Do not be afraid of making mistakes — after all, English is not our mother tongue! Once you have overcome the initial hesitation, you will be surprised how quickly your vocabulary and conversational skills improve!

Among others, the British Council offers various courses: general English, conversation skills, business communication skills, business writing, presentation skills, negotiation skills, IELTS preparation. While they do not come cheap, they are useful. Some call centre training institutes also offer language polishing courses. Check out their bona fides before signing up, though.

A Biotechnology is all about exploiting of biological processes for industrial and other purposes, especially genetically manipulating micro-organisms for producing antibiotics, hormones, etc. Growing at an accelerated rate, the size of the biotech industry in India is an estimated Rs 1000 crore. Projected as the next big wave after IT, it is a "happening" field of work with excellent future prospects. Now that the chemical composition of the human DNA has been successfully mapped, genomics is set to dwarf infotech during the next 10-20 years. While IT stands for India today, BT represents Bharat tomorrow!

Biotechnologists work in pharmaceutical companies, chemical, agriculture, textile, horticulture and allied industries, research laboratories run by the government and the corporate sector.

Multinational companies operating in this field, with the chemical industry in close lead, offer the best remuneration packages.

A BTech/MSc in the subject is a good starting point for most jobs, although higher qualifications are needed for getting into cutting-edge R&D.

A The design, development and manufacture of aircraft and associated aviation systems, ground handling equipment, test equipment, embedded systems and their associated software not only provide career opportunities for aeronautical engineers but also plenty of opportunities for mechanical, electrical, electronics/ avionics and software engineers, including system analysts.

Graduates, postgraduates and doctorates in aeronautical engineering are recruited by leading government and private sector institutions like HAL, National Aerospace Labs, the DRDO, ISRO, the M/o Civil Aviation, the Indian Air Force, aviation wings of the Army and the Navy, Bharat Petroleum (Aviation Service), Air-India, Indian Airlines, private airlines and national and international airport authorities.

Although civil aircraft are imported, their maintenance and servicing is done in-house. Aircraft maintenance engineers sanction the fitness of an aircraft before it is airborne.

With major ongoing programmes in defence, passenger and transport aircraft in full swing, challenging and rewarding opportunities await those embarking on a career in this field. Engineers in Indian Airlines, Air-India and other private airlines fetch a gross starting salary of Rs 40,000+ p.m., which goes up to Rs 1.25 lakh p.m.

Rangit Yadav

A Technical support, which plays a crucial role in technology companies, has now metamorphosed into a veritable high-end job, particularly in the outsourced mode. Today, tech support engineers are recognised and respected worldwide for their skills.

The entire tech support process is geared towards building a relationship while providing a solution. But solving the problem is only half the job; explaining the solution to the customer is the bigger challenge. The work is often compounded by time-critical service demands and the ever expanding gamut of applications.

Since the work involves interacting with customers all the time, a host of soft skills, primarily linked with interpersonal communication are needed. In terms of tech knowledge, the skill-sets called for range from MS and Unix technologies to knowledge of different operating systems, Internet technologies and in-depth knowledge of at least one database technology, ODBC technologies plus extensive and detailed product domain-specific knowledge and familiarity with related domains – in short, the entire nine yards in systems architecture, algorithms and applications. Alternatively, MCSE/ MCSD/ CCNA certifications also figure in many ads. Of course, the tech support organisation you join will put you through its own intensive training programme to familiarise you with their specific product range.

As a fresh IT engineer, tech support would be a good starting point.

Regardless of whether you work on a voice-based or web-based process, good communication (spoken/written) skills are mandatory.

A Writers may write in a burst of inspiration — but even the best writers are concerned with technique, with how to achieve the effects they want.

And contrary to all that spiel about "born" writers, I’m firmly convinced that writing is a craft that can be learnt. And for this, a course in creative writing would be useful.

Creative writing covers all areas of non-journalistic and technical writing. It is a broad term that covers the following genres: fiction writing, non-fiction writing, screenwriting, scriptwriting, memoir writing, novel writing, poetry writing, playwriting, children’s books, TV serial writing, humour writing, mystery writing, romance writing, writing lyrics, science fiction writing, travel writing, feature writing, writing book reviews, interviews, film or art criticism and business communication.

You could choose from any of the following courses through distance learning:

Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU Course: 1) Creative Writing in Eng/Hin; 2) Certificate in Writing for Radio Eligibility: For 1) Class 12; For 2) Bachelor’s degree. (www.ignou.ac.in)

Karnataka State Open University, Manasgangotri, Mysore 570006. Course: Creative Writing in Eng. Elig: Class 12.

UP Rajarshi Tandon Open University, 17 Maharshi Dayanand Marg, Allahabad 211001. Course: Creative Writing in Eng/Hin. Eligibility: 10+2.

These courses are fairly reasonably priced (Rs 1,500-2000/-) and can be pursued at your own pace.

Pervin Malhotra,
Director, CARING