The Importance of Social Worker Career for Sri Lankan Society

Social work has become of utmost importance in European countries due to its role and services for society. Therefore, the social worker career has created one of the most demanding professions worldwide. The career of social work is not mere help people by giving subsidies or assistance beyond that it has a vast role in society. Generally, the social worker involves in many fields in which needy for people in society. The importance of social worker services in society has emerged due to the way of intervention for different fields in society and it has taken an invaluable place in society by catering enormous services to people. What really do social workers do for society and what is the importance of a social worker’s role to society? When it focuses on, it can be identified this way. Social workers advocate for social justice, support individuals in need, and enhance people’s lives and communities and also, contribute to reducing poverty and protecting children and catering to social welfare facilities to enhance the quality of life of people who have undergone many difficulties or are marginalized in society. With a view to improving the quality of people living standards, the social worker directly supports people in different ways by using many approaches. Even though there is high demand for social worker positions in developed countries, in the Sri Lankan context there is no chance to get involved as a social worker. Therefore, it should come to question why there is no opportunity to involve and provide service in this profession. At the present, many government universities have already started social work degree programs for undergraduate and master level. Bachelor of social work and Master of social work graduates obviously have a passion to involve in the social work field.  It is imperative to examine that what is the importance of social work career for Sri Lankan society. For many years Sri Lanka has been struggling to turn into a developed country unfortunately, still exists same position facing many hardships under the pressure of debt. The social worker can be intervention in different ways like community development through community organization is one of the salient features that can be seen and help diminish poverty and rural development. This can be led directly attached to the community participation approach. Substance abuse has become stricken severe issue in the school system in Sri Lanka. Therefore, the function of school counselling has been taken less importance due to the attenuated intervention of students’ issues. Under these circumstances, there should be a concrete mechanism for preventing drug and alcohol usage among young school children. Concerning the prevailing current situation in the school system, there should be optional intervention to rescue the students from the regrettable condition in society. Thereby, the social worker can support emasculating the adhering from the unnecessary involvement by giving advice and directing the rehabilitation process. Social workers not only work in one or two divisions indeed they have many fields to cater their services like schools, hospitals, prisons, ministries, elder home care, child home care, and human right etc., When it is considered overall, it is obvious that the importance of social worker for the development of society. Therefore, it is high time to establish the position of a social worker in Sri Lankan society. It is suggested that an open discussion should be taken to discuss this matter to disseminate social work education and introduce the social work career to Sri Lankan Society. People who have followed social work education and are interested in working in this field can accumulate to initiate national-level organizations to provide their services for national development. It would be easily led to bring up the profession of social work into society. The National Institute of Social Development (NISD) and universities which have already started social work degree programs could lead to making a national-level discussion towards building a social worker career in Sri Lanka. Observing the overall discussion, it can be concluded that the social worker’s role is necessary to build a well-established society. And a qualified social worker is mainly based on knowledge, skills, ethics and values therefore social work career is considered a profession.

Karunarathne R. A. R.
Lecturer (Probationary), Department of Sociology