Dr. B. R. Ambedkar College is organizing National Conference on “Indian Social Work: Scope and Challenges”

In first of its kind two days national conference on “Indian Social Work: Scope and Challenges” will be organized on 14-15 March, 2018 in Dr. B. R. Ambedkar College, University of Delhi in collaboration with Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya, Wardha on 14-15 March, 2018. The conference aims to discover Indian perspective/s in social work with a vision to decolonize the academic discourse and lay down the foundation stone for Indianisation or Bharatiyakaran of Social Work education in India.

“Presently, almost entire academic research, teaching, training and discourse on social work is based on the paradigms developed by the British during colonial rule in India. The legacy has been continued by the Indian academicians even after over seven decades of independence. This conference will prove a foundation stone in decolonizing social work and developing an Indian perspective,” said Dr. Bishnu Mohan Dash, Head, Department of Social Work, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar College, University of Delhi.  The Social Work education as a stream was first started with the establishment of Sir Dorabji Tata Graduate School of Social Work (presently known as Tata Institute of Social Sciences) at Mumbai in 1936. As the stream has its origin in colonial British India, it was obvious that the curriculum for the Social Work education was then borrowed by United Kingdom and United States of India. In the past over eight decades, there is almost no change in the curriculum, research, teaching and training. Further, most of the universities in India have adopted the old western model of social work education/curriculum in India without examining their suitability in the local context. “The hard earned money of the taxpayers is being used to propagate colonial education system in the field of social work. They may be some elements of universality in colonial model of social work education but not all. It’s high time for social work academicians in India to be tolerant enough in accommodating thoughts and personalities who have/ had made significant contributions in this field,” added Dr Bishnu Mohan Dash.