Social work is a subject that not many people associate with high profile corporate careers. With over 25 years of experience in the field, Nicholas Francis, takes the first step in highlighting Social Work in an Indian perspective in his book The Handbook for Professional Practice and Career Development in Social Work. The author sheds light on what ails the sector.
How does this book benefit students?
In an age and time when social work is being taken up by students from various backgrounds, ironically, most of the books that they refer to are written by international authors. That is when I decided to release a book with an Indian perspective in English and Tamil.
How has this field evolved?
There is no doubt that this field has gone through a major makeover in terms of job choices. Today, areas such as counselling, development management and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) have really opened up.
What are the drawbacks?
Most colleges still follow ancient texts enumerating the difference between social work and social service. My book gives a list of expectations that employers have.
Your take on the salary offered by NGOs?
One myth that social work students have is that ‘you are paid peanuts’. Any professional social worker has to work at the grassroot level before getting better jobs.
How do we respond to these issues?
A new era of social work has dawned and today the youth have to be equipped with technology linked answers. Start-ups are a good way to enforce the change by incorporating technology.