Clifford Manshardt ,an American Protestant Missionary working in the Nagpada Neighbourhood of poor families, started social work education in India under the auspices of the Tatas .The Sir Dorabji Tata Graduate School of Social Work came into being in 1936 with Manshardt as the first Director and it offered a two-year Postgraduate Diploma in Social Service Administration (Dip SSA ). Incidentally I was born the same year in August ; I gained a lot from Social Work and also gave back something significant to society and social work education in India.
MSSW founded in 1952 borrowed the name School as well as the curriculum cotent from the first school, which in 1944 became the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). MSSW ,thus, became an American Dream. The late Dr. P.T. Thomas , the first professional social worker-Director of MSSW , described social work as an "Exotic Plant" implanted on the Indian soil by an American.
The two-year social work course at MSSW was a Generic Programme, that is, all areas or FIELDS where social work skills could be applied were taught without any area of specialization and the successful students were awarded the Dip SSA. The five fields of social work were Medical and Psychiatric Social Work , Community Development , Criminology and Correctional Administration , Family and Child Welfare, and Labour Welfare and Industrial Relations (which later on became PMIR :Personnell Management ). After some years MSSW opted for the specialization model .
Most of the students who joined MSSW had done so to become officers in industries. This has been the pattern all across the country. When Specialization was introduced PMIR was the most favoured specialization. It is so even now. Late Dr. K.V. Sridharan,the second Director of MSSW, once recalled in a conversation with me that at the TISS the PMIR students considered themselves the BRAHMINS in TISS.
Social Work has the unique pattern of theory classes and concurrent Field Work of two days duration during the two years. In addition Block field work for about a month and a project report based on data collected by the student reasearcher.
Social Work taught at MSSW was devoid of any Social / Structural Analysis and the assessment of the systemic causation of problems and maladies. Instead emphasis was on Individual Pathology , deviance , family breakdown, and related issues. The method Social Case Work to a great extent and Social Group Work to some extent were given emphasis. The thrust was on urban-centred issues. Sadly MSSW gave least preference to rural students. Community Organization was taught more as a welfare intervention of delivery of services to people living in slums. Shockingly students going to slums for field work were advised to take BATH on return from the poor settlements. The poor living in slums were polluted: a biased understanding of urban poverty at that time by social work teachers.
MSSW founded in 1952 borrowed the name School as well as the curriculum cotent from the first school, which in 1944 became the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). MSSW ,thus, became an American Dream. The late Dr. P.T. Thomas , the first professional social worker-Director of MSSW , described social work as an "Exotic Plant" implanted on the Indian soil by an American.
The two-year social work course at MSSW was a Generic Programme, that is, all areas or FIELDS where social work skills could be applied were taught without any area of specialization and the successful students were awarded the Dip SSA. The five fields of social work were Medical and Psychiatric Social Work , Community Development , Criminology and Correctional Administration , Family and Child Welfare, and Labour Welfare and Industrial Relations (which later on became PMIR :Personnell Management ). After some years MSSW opted for the specialization model .
Most of the students who joined MSSW had done so to become officers in industries. This has been the pattern all across the country. When Specialization was introduced PMIR was the most favoured specialization. It is so even now. Late Dr. K.V. Sridharan,the second Director of MSSW, once recalled in a conversation with me that at the TISS the PMIR students considered themselves the BRAHMINS in TISS.
Social Work has the unique pattern of theory classes and concurrent Field Work of two days duration during the two years. In addition Block field work for about a month and a project report based on data collected by the student reasearcher.
Social Work taught at MSSW was devoid of any Social / Structural Analysis and the assessment of the systemic causation of problems and maladies. Instead emphasis was on Individual Pathology , deviance , family breakdown, and related issues. The method Social Case Work to a great extent and Social Group Work to some extent were given emphasis. The thrust was on urban-centred issues. Sadly MSSW gave least preference to rural students. Community Organization was taught more as a welfare intervention of delivery of services to people living in slums. Shockingly students going to slums for field work were advised to take BATH on return from the poor settlements. The poor living in slums were polluted: a biased understanding of urban poverty at that time by social work teachers.
No comments:
Post a Comment