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Social Works Department

Faculty Members

Name	Designation	Qualification	Joining Date	Specialisation
Ms. Farida Warjri	HOD	MSW	1st May 2007	Urban and Rural community Development
Ms. Audrey Dohling	Lecturer	MSW	1st May 2007	Medical and Psychiatric Social Work (MPSW)
Ms. Rituparna Rajendra	Lecturer	MSW	15th June 2007	Medical and Psychiatric Social Work (MPSW)
Ms. L. Teresa Kom	Lecturer	MSW	11th May 2008
Mr. Daniel Kharkongor	Lecturer	MSW	1st April 2009	Community Development
Ms. Namrata Sewa Lala	Lecturer	MSW	1st Sep 2009

About the Department

The Department of Social Work was established in St. Edmund's College in May 2007 and is the first college in North East India offering a Bachelor's in Social Work. The Department is at its nascent stage and is affiliated to the North Eastern Hill University. The Department came into being when the congregation of Christian Brothers felt the need to prepare a generation of young people who will address issues of the region and the nation as a whole from a totally professional perspective by diagnosing, examining and providing solutions to issues that plague our society.

The course content was decided by an expert panel comprising of from Dr. B.P.Sahu, Head, Centre for Adult and Continuing Education, Prof. Nikhilesh Kumar, Department of Sociology, NEHU and Dr. Kalpana Desai, Reader, Mizoram University. The syllabus includes apart from Social Work papers, subjects that will give students a better understanding of the society and how people behave, through papers such as Sociological and Psychological Concepts, about polity and economy through a paper called Economic and Political Concepts, Integrated Social Work Practice, Human Rights ands the Weaker Sections.

The BSW degree curriculum has an educational objective of providing professional education for entry into the social work profession by equipping students with knowledge, values, skills that are essential for social work practice. The course intends to prepare students to deal with complex and challenging personal and social problems in an effective manner. Thus to achieve these aims, a two pronged methodology of teaching and learning are used which includes classroom learning and field work. Classroom learning provides theoretical knowledge and field work which is a pivotal and mandatory aspect of the course, gives experiential and experimental learning to the students with real life situations under supervisory guidance. The course enable students to relate theory to practice, and also to relate experience to theory.

The Department has the following objectives:

• To develop holistic view of social work and social welfare in the community with special emphasis on the agency's role in human services.
• To understand the agency as an organization; its structure, functions, activities and sources of funding.
• To understand and make a commitment to the basic humanistic values and principles of social work practice in a secular democratic society.
• To develop and understanding of the application of the methods of social work practice in the field.
• To develop practice skills appropriate to each phase o the problem solving process and apply them in direct service.
• To develop and understanding of the problems and opportunities in working with diverse populations.
• To develop self-awareness necessary to assess one's own values, attitudes, feelings, strengths, limitations and performance.
• To develop the readiness to seek and accept help from the field work supervisor and others, and from professional and scientific literature for self-improvement.

The first month in the first year is spent in field orientation as students come from a variety of educational streams of disciplines. This is done in several ways:

1. Institutional Visits:

During this period, field visits are organized in order to give students an exposure and orientation to ongoing services by different groups and individuals in response to people's needs. The specific objectives of institutional visits are to:

• be exposed to social welfare organizations.
• to get acquainted with the structure, functioning and staffing pattern and activities of the organization.
• understand the problems and constraints faced by the organization, and
• develop the skills of reporting and group discussions.

2. Group Lab Sessions:

In the first year, four to five sessions of small group exercises are organized. The broad objectives to be met through such sessions are:

• Initiating students into the values of he profession , for instance, respect for others, respect for differences, freedom of self expression, and social responsibility.
• Helping students become aware of themselves as persons; how they think, feel, respond to others and affect others.
• Helping students identify some aspects of the processes involved in inter-personal communication, at the individual and group levels.
• Helping students develop empathy for others by listening to and making an effort to understand others.

3. Rural Camp:

An integral part of the curriculum programme during the Second Year is the Rural Camp. It provides students with an exposure to rural life, problems and issues related to poverty and development, and enable them to place, organize and implement programme. Above all the exercise helps students evolve a pattern of participative, reflective and analytical learning.

The rural camp experience is divided into three phases:

• pre-camp orientation and planning-students are introduced to the objective and guidelines of the camp and then divided into groups.
• the actual camp experience - group members stay in the home of villagers, sharing their daily live and reflecting on their life situations.
• post camp activities - discussion and report writing and one day workshop to share their learning experiences through reports, exhibits, photographs, skits and dances thereby sharpening their analysis and perceptions of the rural situation and related issues.

4. Concurrent Field Work:

Field work is based on practice roles and intervention modes: social work practice with individuals, families, groups, community organization, programme planning and implementation. Individual placement is arranged keeping in mind several factors including student's background, learning needs, previous experience in helping, languages known, location of agencies and distance from student's residence, and emotional compatibility between the student and agency supervisor. The student is expected to be in the same field work placement with the same agency supervisor for the entire academic year.

5. Study Tour:

At the end of the course, a study tour is to be conducted to enable students to get a larger picture of issues that are being addressed at different levels across the country. This is also an opportunity to learn about the existing institutions that provide Social Work education at the Master's and post master's level. This is also a time to allow students to also seek job options if they wish to start working after their bachelors degree.

The Department has collaborated with almost 30 NGOs as well as government hospitals for students to be able to carry out their field work. The issues range from rural settings to urban planning, water and waste management, disability, HIV/AIDS, street children, alcoholism and drug addiction, rehabilitation, women's rights, human rights, sexual minorities and others.

The Social Work Department has over 300 books in the Library but being a subject that cuts across the Social Sciences, books from the Sociology, Economics, Political Science, History, Psychology sections and knowledge of government schemes, programmes and policies are also used to enhance one's learnings. A Field Work Manual has also been developed before the first batch of students came in 2007 which highlights what is expected of students and supervisors during field work.

Activities

1. Rural Camp 2008

In April 2008, the Department organized a Rural Camp for the students of BSW II which was held at Umswai Village in Karbi Anglong District of Assam from the 2nd till the 8th of June, 2008. The Camp was organized by the Department in collaboration with North Eastern Community Resource Management Project supported by International Fund for Agricultural Development, Government of India and the North Eastern Council.

The objectives of the rural camp were as follows:

• To get the students acquainted with rural life and rural livelihood patterns.
• Visit the households for demographic and Socio-Economic survey.
• Conduct PRA exercises by the use of tools such as social map, resource map, land capability chart and venn diagram. The PRA exercise will help to understand the problems of the rural community.
• Prepare a rural camp report.

2. Rural Camp 2009

Rural Camp is a part of the course of Bachelor of Social Work giving each student the opportunity to observe, learn and broaden their mindset when dealing with people and as such the B.S.W Department of St. Edmund's College had undertaken a rural camp in three villages, namely Kharang village, Pingwait village and Dienglieng village from 20th April to 26th April, 2009. As a part and parcel of the course, students of the BSW II, during their stay in the said villages worked with great enthusiasm to acquaint themselves with rural life, living pattern and problems confronting them, of lack of health care facilities of rural life and their social-economic status. The students also made an effort in interacting with the people and finding out ways and means by to improve rural life through Participatory Rural Appraisal followed by discussions on how to solve the general problems prevailing there. As a result, the aim of the camper and their labour did not prove futile because of the co-operation and helping hands of people in the villages and presence of all from community.

3. Tri-Continental Film Festival:

In November 2008 the Department was able to organize a Tri Continental Film Festival in collaboration with Breakthrough, New Delhi and North East Network, Shillong. The festival was inaugurated by Padmashree Awardee, Ms. Patricia Mukhim who is a noted columnist and social activist of Meghalaya. During the festival over 15 films and documentaries from Asia, Africa and Latin America were screened and almost 200 people attended the programme from various colleges and organisations.

4. Social Work Department Magazine:

The Department of Social Work, St. Edmund's College initiated a magazine, titled "Weaving Change", which was released on the 29th of August 2009. Through the magazine, the Teachers and the students were able to give detailed information about the Department and on the experiences of the students at field work. The magazine also throws light on various social issues such as HIV/AIDS, Child labour, Drug abuse, and Violence against women. Furthermore, the magazine encompasses a variety of information such as Right to Information (RTI), Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and Rights of children.

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