Does a School of Social Work Evolve into a Business School ?

Aware of the limitations of voluntarism, the late Mary Clubwala Jadhav, the colossus of social welfare in India, founded the Madras School of Social Work (MSSW) in 1952. The post-independent India needed well-trained social workers for handling the various developmental and welfare programmes, and Mary Clubwala had the foresight to respond to this need. Thus came into being the first school of social work in south India. Started in a thatched shed, it grew to its present position solely because of the grit and determination of Mary Clubwala. She had strong faith in the efficacy of professional social work and she had no hesitation to disagree with the great Rajaji (the first Indian Governor General after independence), when he commented to Mary that she was promoting “mechanised charity”. Hundreds of young men and women have learnt the first lessons of social work at this centre of learning, and went on to become outstanding social workers, behavioural therapists, counsellors, development innovators, change agents, institution builders, social activists and administrators in diverse spheres in the social and corporate sectors.


Drastic and undesirable shift in the focus of the social work institution has taken place from social work to business management after the demise of Mary Clubwala. While ordinary MBA courses have been mushrooming in the country, there is no justification at all for adding one more to the bunch in a school of social work. Historically labour welfare and industrial relations course has been an integral part of social work education in India. Over the years, this course has metamorphosed into human resource management in keeping with the global developments in rapid economic growth and in management innovations. Consequently HR management education preferred an independent identity at the Master’s level or as a specialisation of the MBA degree. At the same time, Master’s degree holders in social work (MSW) with HR specialisation continue to have an excellent performance record in public and private sector enterprises as their approach is more humanistic because of their orientation in the social work philosophy of the uniqueness of the individual. Yet MSSW not only joined the MBA bandwagon but also started full- time and part- time management-related courses, definitely not to address the crying needs of the Indian society. The reputation of the social work school and the infrastructure are used for activities that are in deviation from the vision of the founder, who even in the last days of her life was keenly concerned about the continuance of her social work organisations. The social work ethos of the institution is being altered and this is a breach of trust reposed on MSSW by the visionary Mary Clubwala. An International School for Management Studies as a part of MSSW ; is like having a “Bar” in a place of worship.

Social Work institutes normally initiate welfare projects with a professional perspective which could be replicated by NGOs and other agencies. MSSW has grossly disappointed the society on this count too. So much for the moral commitment of the school to the society. In the diamond jubilee year of this great institution , there is an urgent need for course correction in its direction and the academic programmes to be offered in sync with its original social objectives. A social audit by the stakeholders is imperative.

IS SOCIAL WORK A PROFESSION IN INDIA ?

The platinum jubilee of social work education was observed in 2011. The establishment of the Sir Dorabji Graduate of Social Work marked the beginning of education for "professional" social work in India. Subsequently, Schools of Social Work became institutes of social sciences to accomodate other courses. Starting "job-oriented" MSW and even BSW courses in colleges across the country is now common. The recent trend in the proliferation of Social Work degrees by the directorates of distance education. Who bothers about the quality of education so long as the flow of money is uninteruppted ? Yet Social Work graduates are in demand in different social and corporate sectors. Many are in lucrative positions of authority, while many others work with children, women, elderly, the differently-abled, the mentally challenged, the HIV-affected, and other disadvantaged groups enabling them to transform their lives.

The conservative social workers assert that social work is a profession. But there does not seem to have social acceptance of this claim. There is no doubt about the professional status of medicine and law. It is not so with social work, though some of its characterstics are similiar to law and medicine.
1) There are no rigorous , formal educational requirements for entry into the "profession of social work".
2) There is no system for accrediting social work education or licensing social work practitioners in India unlike in the United States. Bar Council of India and Medical Council of India are statutory regulatory bodies of law and medicine, respectively. A similiar council for social work has been demanded by social workers without any response from the government.
3) Social workers do not have specific clients as they are called upon to serve many types of stake holders : individuals, families, organisations and communities.
4) There is absence of a definite code of ethics for social workers like the one for doctors that is enforceable by peer review.
5) Social workers do not have the professional symbols as those of the medical or legal practitioners.

Some of the requirements of the profession are adapted from Edgar Schein, former Professor of MIT's Sloan School of Management, who disputes the claims of "management" as a profession. In India, spread of Social Work courses has been haphazard. The Association of Schools of Social Work in India, a voluntary body, is almost defunct. The Indian Association of Trained Social Workers was dissolved years ago. In its place , there are some "professional" groups in some cities. It is disturbing that many Social Work graduates in the human resource management field in the corporate organisations are not comfortable with the social work identity; they prefer to be called HRM graduates. The professional status of Social Work in India, as of now, is a BIG QUESTION MARK. But, to be a committed social worker the professional tag is not necessary.