A study on relevance of social work curriculum in selected social work institutions in India

Abstract

Since its establishment in 1936 social work professional education has evolved in India and currently there are about 526 social work institutions offering certificate to doctoral degree and post-doctoral degree social work programmes (Mathew, 2020). Unfortunately, social work profession in India could not match the international standards due to the lack of indigenous knowledge and over reliance on western theories, concepts, models which have mostly remained American or Eurocentric. In this paper, attempts have been made to evaluate the Master of Social Work (MSW) curriculum of selected social work institutions in India and its relevance in Indian context. The importance of the indigenization of the social work education is highlighted in this article, and also elaborated how the western influence on literature on social work has limited the reach and development of the indigenous social work profession in India. The study suggested that social workers have an intrinsic professional duty to use indigenous approaches to understand local contexts and to undertake culturally relevant research and practice with appropriate efforts to ensure that the practices align with economic, cultural, and political needs of the country. It also recommends that Indian universities must adopt the Indianisation of Social work curriculum and needs to promote Indian indigenous methods and practices of social work along with integration of Indic values of social work viz Dharma (duty), Nishta (dedication), Satya (truth) and Ahimsha (non-violence) in social work education.