Recognize Social Work as a Profession

Shah Muntacher Hossain Mihan

The Industrial Revolution, which began in the last half of the eighteenth century, brought about a revolutionary change in all aspects of human society.  The effect of the Industrial Revolution was to create positive and negative conditions in the society.  The Industrial Revolution is one of the most important events in human history.  Professional social work is developed on the basis of scientific knowledge to deal with the problems created by the Industrial Revolution.  Social work is the result of the complexities of the growing development of modern industrial society.

Social work is considered as an important subject of the Faculty of Social Sciences. Besides, it is also widely accepted in the world. Although social work is a helpful profession, it is quite scientific and varied as a subject.Although social work originated in Bangladesh in the early fifties, social work or modern social welfare was first studied globally in the United States in 1898 and in the developing countries of the world in the early twentieth century.

In 1954, under the auspices of the United Nations, a nine-month training program was started at the initiative of the then government and at that time it was proposed to introduce a master's course under Dhaka University.  Later, the first social work higher education institution in the country, the College of Social Welfare and Research Center, was established in Dhaka, which was renamed in 1973 as the Social Welfare and Research Institute.  At present, social work is taught in many leading universities and higher secondary level of the country.

Although many years have passed since the introduction and spread of social work in Bangladesh, it has not yet gained institutional and professional recognition.  The process of profit is then stopped. In the developed world, such as the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, South Korea, Finland, Scandinavian countries, social work is recognized as a profession like doctor, engineer, teacher.  Even in our neighboring country India, social work has a special value.

Our life is now beset with various social problems including suicide, juvenile delinquency, human rights abuse, hunger, poverty and security issues, among others. Professional social workers have the expertise and motivation to tackle these problems. A professional social worker uses his/her scientific knowledge and skills to address various problems in a society or community. But in our country, we do not see any system of engaging professional social workers.

Those who do social work voluntarily are not even recognised. So, many of them are getting demotivated. Also, socio-economic problems are increasing day by day. They are creating obstacles to the development of the country's economy, health, agriculture and industry. It is possible to bring about tremendous development in the socio-economic field with the help of qualified and professional social workers. Keeping the fourth industrial revolution in mind, we must give due recognition to the professional social workers and their contribution to society.


Shah Muntacher Hossain Mihan is a Student Department of Social Work, Noakhali Science and Technology University