On the field, bringing about a social change

Nagpur: The Matru Sewa Sangh (MSS) was founded by the late Padma Shri Kamalatai Hospet in 1921. The college of social work was established under the aegis of MSS by Dr Satyabala Tayal in 1958. Affiliated to Nagpur University since 1962, the college evolved from a Certificate course in Social Work to a Bachelor’s (BSW) course, and subsequently to the Master’s (MSW), MPhil and PhD Programme.
The institute earned UGC recognition in 1976. The institute has been consistently getting A grade from NAAC. Saurabh Nimkar, a first year MSW (Masters in Social Work) student said, “Here we learn how to solve a problem in a community as well as that of an individual during field work carried out during two days a week. We learn about various ideologies and how to work in a group with a positive attitude.”
The institute takes up projects in hospitals, rural, urban community settings and police stations, and helps abandoned, street children, women in distress, HIV-AIDS patients and persons suffering from substance abuse.
The institute started helpline for children in Nagpur 15 years ago. It is the nodal agency for Nagpur Childline ‘1098’ and has been in the forefront of child rights in Nagpur.
The institute is running family counselling for women in distress, in collaboration with the city police at Dhantoli police station for the last 15 years with the help of Central Social Welfare Board. It has resolved hundreds of family issues. Another innovative project is ‘School Social Work’, which aims at improving quality of education in municipal schools in Nagpur.
The institute has organized several national and international seminars on a variety of social themes with a view to provide exposure and learning opportunities to its students. Each student is placed under a faculty member who mentors him/her, be it in theory, field work or research.
Laxmi Borkar, a student, said, “We learn how to handle various situations and crises. We get to participate in village camps in the first year itself. Foreign students visit our college with whom we exchange skills and ideas. Our understanding of different cultures improves as we get to know more about them.”
The faculty has been involved in evaluation of the Integrated Street Children Programme of the Ministry of Women & Child Development since 1999. The faculty has done a number of research projects. The institute conducted an exclusive study of the Gosikhurd Project Affected People in 2015.
The Nagpur University selected the institute as the best college for its commendable NSS activities in 2014. Kuldeep Sawale, a first year student, said, “Workshops are held for particular subjects. I had done my bachelor’s in social work from another college but I find the facilities here better. The training we got for our research work was excellent. The faculty is very supportive.”
(Reporting by Shrushti Wanare)
‘Putting emphasis on field work & research’
The Matru Sewa Sangh has completed 95 years of its existence. Its founder Padma Shri Kamalatai Hospet was a legend in the field of women’s welfare. With such rich heritage, the college imparts good values and work culture which are essential virtues for any student of social work.
The college has some of the best social work teachers. Some of them are alumni of the famous Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, the first social work training facility in India which was established in 1936.
In social work education, field work training is considered as an integral part. The college offers the best available facilities for field work training. It has tied up with some of the best social work agencies in Nagpur for field work placement.
Besides, the college also undertakes its own field action projects, funded by the Government of India and the Central Social Welfare Board.
Research is another forte of the college. All the faculty members are involved in research activities with the assistance of UGC and ICSSR. Some of them act as consultants in a number of research and evaluation studies for the government, corporate bodies and private agencies.
The institute has added three more field action programmes to its list of activities. Besides Childline, Family Counselling Centre, and Social Work Intervention for Juvenile Justice, the institute has partnered with
the Global Fund for Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria and launched the Saksham Project. School Social Work and Community Action for Environment are the other two field action initiatives that got under way in the past few years.
The college gives a lot of importance to social work research and conducts research workshop to give additional inputs to the students. The college has an excellent library which has more than 18,000 books related to social work/social sciences. The entire campus is Wi-Fi enabled and the library has computer terminals exclusively for students. The college has the best infrastructure as far as classrooms are concerned.
(The writer is principal of MSS Institute of Social Work)
ABOUT THE COLLEGE
Matru Sewa Sangh Institute of Social Work
Number of teaching staff: 20
Campus Area: 2 acres
Classes: CSW, BSW, MSW, MPhil
Cut off percentage: 50%
7. Seats available: CSW, BSW, MSW, MPhil 450
8. Infrastructure: Library, playground, social science lab, subsidized hostel
Future plans
The college aims to become a centre of social work research with university recognition, where PhD scholars will have ample facilities. It also has plans to start new field action projects with a special focus on continuing education of girls and vocational education.