Possible effects of Draft National Education Policy 2019 on Professional Social Work
Possible effects of Draft National Education Policy 2019 on Professional Social Work
*Abin Mathew, PhD Scholar, Christ University, Bengaluru
Introduction
Draft National Education Policy 2019 of India came out in 15 December 2018, under the chairmanship of Dr. Kasturirangan (formal chairman of ISRO). It relies on UN models of Formal Education. It gives importance to Cognitive development of a person throughout the lifespan. This draft policy argues for structural changes in school and higher education, like school complexes, liberal arts approach in higher education, National Research Foundation for enhancing the research in academic realm.
The impact of Draft NEP 2019 will be far reaching and it could revolutionize every domain of knowledge in its content, application and research output. In this article we are going to see its possible effects on Social Work. Draft NEP 2019 coined the term "Social Worker" 55 times in different places of this published draft of 484 pages. Which itself demand for a closer scrutiny on the impact of NEP on the field of Social Work.
Social Work as a Profession
Social Work is a professional service provided to people who are in need of help. One who is either qualified with Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) or Master of Social Work (MSW) can be considered as a professional Social Worker. The first institute for social work in India is Tata Institute of Social Sciences, established in 1936. Both BSW and MSW are taught across the country and it is recognized by University Grants Commission (UGC).
Direct and Indirect applications of NEP
The possible effects of Draft NEP 2019 will be direct as well as indirect for the profession of Social Work. The direct consequence will be on School Social Work (Professional Social Work provided in schools), Social Work education- for BSW and MSW and on Research of Social Work in academic realm. The indirect effects are difficult to predict, still a paradigm shift in the nature of profession and its application may be possible due to ingenious work of future Social Work students and Teachers practicing NEP 2019. This paper considers only the direct effects of Draft NEP 2019 on professional Social Work.
Social Work in Schools and NEP
The effect of Draft NEP will be at its best on School Social Work. The scope and need of Social Work services is very well explained in this policy however the service of Social Work is still a dream for most of the schools in India. If the NEP is practiced by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), the job opportunities it could open for Social Workers in this area will be huge.
Role of Social Worker in schools is spread over in NEP, its compilation will help to understand that, NEP focuses on 3 areas in which role of a professional helper is crucial in school, they are
1. Ensuring the Health and Nutrition of School Students
2. Retention and avoidance of absenteeism among students
3. Education of Adult citizens through School Complexes
1. Ensuring the Health and Nutrition of School Students
Ensuring of Health and Nutrition of students of different age groups is explained in different chapters of NEP. Role of Social Worker in Ensuring Health and Nutrition of School Students is explained elaborative from chapter 1, which discusses about Early Childhood Care and Education. In this chapter NEP envisions the extension of educational services to Early Childhood (Children of age 3 and 4). And this group of children is provided by professional service of social workers through Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS). So NEP proposes to integrated work of MHRD with Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MHFW) and Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD). This has two implications to the profession of Social Work,
i. The role Social Worker in ICDS may redefined
ii. School Social Worker will also cater the nutrition and health needs of children in Early Childhood
In the chapter 3, P3.9 of the policy explains the role of Social Worker in the health of School Children. The application of this part of policy could make a Social Worker more responsible towards the health of school children; the role of a social worker is explained as middleman between parents and schools. This calls for more community work from the social worker in ensuring good health, hygiene and vaccination at regular intervals for ensuring health of children.
2. Retention and avoidance of absenteeism among students
Retention and avoidance of absenteeism is the most discussed role of social worker in NEP. This is spread in various chapters of NEP. P2.16 of policy acknowledges the role of Social Worker in working with students, parents and teachers in ensuring retention of students. This is restated in page number 67 to include children up to 18 years.
Page No. 69, P6.2.4, P6.6.2 and P6.7 discusses about girl children, children from backward communities, transgender children and others dropping out due to harassment/ Stereotyping/Child marriage. This will integrate with the work of Childline, as a helpline and involvement of correction agencies like police is proposed to address harassment. The P3.7, P3.8 on tracking children, who are out of school and long abseteeism, will integrate Childline services.
The implication of above will be affecting the profession of Social Work in 3 different ways
i. Role of Social Worker in Childline services may be redefined or Childline may be replaced by a school based helpline number
ii. The role of Social Workers in Child development NGOs may be redefined or all those services may be integrated in School Complex
iii. School may become major functioning agency of Social Workers in the field of Child Welfare. And their roles and functions in NGOs may diminish
3. Second Chance Education Program and Education of Adult citizens through School Complexes
P3.10, P7.2.3 of the Draft NEP explains the role of Social Worker in working with children and adolescents requiring second chance of education due to dropping out for multiple years and Adults who require school education respectively. These provisions of NEP empower School Social Workers to be a local champion of knowledge promotion within the immediate vicinity of the school complex. The impact of this will make school social workers responsible for education of adult citizens, for first time in the history of school social work in India.
Apart from these roles Social Workers are expected work as School Counsellor under the supervision of a fulltime a School Counsellor working for 2 or 3 School Counsellor according to the roles of Counsellor provided in page number 163.
Social Work Education, Research and NEP
Social Work education in India may begin with Plus Two Humanities as subject or BSW. BSW or B.A. Social Work is common across the country and former is rare. And MSW is the masters program in Social Work, at certain universities it is named as M.A. Social Work. BSW is a 3 year program and MSW is a 2 year program in India. This may change as the NEP proposes for Liberal arts education model. And the duration of Masters Program aka MSW can be 1 year, 2 year or 5 year integrated with research. All of these changes will drastically changes the structure of these education programs and its outcomes. Any prediction on these changes at this point of time will be naïve. The establishment of NRF- National research foundation could improve the quality of research in MSW in academic realm.
Social Worker in Rashtriya Shiksha Aayog
The Draft NEP 2019 also proposes a membership for Social Worker in Rashtriya Shiksha Aayog. The scope may be limited to one individual but it's an acknowledgement of importance for the Profession of Social Work in Educational settings.
Conclusion
Draft National Education Policy 2019 is a well prepared document that could revitalize the Education System in India. It has far reaching and positive consequences for different domains of knowledge and disciplines. The discipline of Social Work and its importance in the field of Education is acknowledged properly in this draft. The realization of this policy will improve the effectiveness of education as well as school social work services. But due caution is required in practical implementation of the policy; any kind of dilution in the recommendations may result in partial fulfillment or harmful impact on education.
Reference
Dash Gangotri, Mohan, AK(2015). Scope and challenges of social work in Schools: Perspectives of teachers and social organizations. Internation Journal of Applied Research, pp. 550-556
https://www.childlineindia.org.in/
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