Letter of Appreciation by the Honourable Chief Minister of Karnataka

 

Students secure prize in poster making competition held at St. John's Medical College Hospital

Four students from 2nd year MSW secured the second prize in the poster making competition held at St. John's Medical College Hospital here in Bengaluru as part of World Social Worker Day. The four students are:

1. Ms. ROOPIKA R NAIR

2. Sr. CHRISTIN EZHIL A

3. Ms. KEZIA NIKITA

4. Ms. ASHWINI U

Congratulations! The Department of Social Work is proud of your achievement! 

A Three Day Virtual International Conference in Collaboration with UNCW, USA.

A three day virtual international conference was organised by the Department of Social Work in Collaboration with the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW), USA, from the 18th to the 20th of March, 2021. The conference was titled- 'A Virtual Conference on Cross National Perspectives on Social Work in the time of COVID-19'. The conference was held via Zoom. Day 1 began at 5:00 PM, IST. Rev. Fr. Dr. Victor Lobo SJ, the Principal, was the guest of Honour. Dr. Fr. G. Augustine Lourdu, Assistant Professor & PG coordinator, was the convenor of the joint conference, representing the Department of Social Work, SJC.  

The inaugural and keynote address was given by Dr. Charlie Hardy and Dr. Arthur Frankl from UNCW. There were two panels on day 1. The first one was a plenary session where experts from India and the US spoke about the impact of covid 19 on the people as well as on social work as a profession. Panel 2 included paper presentations. Both students and faculty members from both sides presented papers related to the topic. This was followed by breakout rooms. A total of 8 breakout rooms were created to facilitate interaction between the experts and presenters with the participants. Day 2 began at 7:00 AM, IST. It began with poster presentations on the topic followed by paper presentations and discussions in panel 2. There were breakout rooms at the end of the session as well. Day 3 began at 5 PM, IST. There were presenters from both the academic circles as well practitioners in the field for this session. Dr. Alan Godfrey laid out the concluding remarks and the day ended with breakout rooms wherein students asked several insightful questions to the speakers which generated meaningful discussions related to the pandemic and the role of social workers in the current scenario. 

The conference ended at 8:30 PM. There were numerous positive feedbacks by the participants. On the whole, despite the pandemic raging havoc, the conference went on as planned and was a big success. 

SWSA Fest -2021

 The SWSA fest was organized by Social Work Students Association. The theme of this year’s fest was “Interconnectedness of Society”. Students from Department of Social Work actively participated in various competitions conducted as part of the event.  Nine events with specific themes were conducted as part of the fest – Creative writing, Extempore, Monoact, Solo Dance, Solo Singing, Instrumental, Painting, Poster Making and Fashion show. All the results were declared through the official Instagram page of Social Work Students Association.

 

#metoo movement and its relevance

 

The session was held on 08/03/2021 considering the International Women’s Day in collaboration with Secret Sharz- an online platform that provides an opportunity for anyone who is willing to share their life experiences. The session began with a prayer song by Ms.Sanchita from 1BSW and Ms.Marryam from 2BSW was the moderator. The session was open for other colleges too and a good number of participants were found .The session’s chief guest was Dr.Rita Noronha with the special invitee Ms.Shikha Swaraj, founder of PEHEL-We for you. PEHEL is a social youth organization that works for the upliftment of society by channelizing the power of Youth. Dr.Rita Noronha highlighted the issues of women in today’s time and shared some of her life long experiences working as a social worker. She motivated the students to be better and to create an environment of equality. #metoo movement have helped in highlighting many suppressed issues of women. She was also very generous to answer so many questions asked by the students from different colleges. After that Ms.Shikha Swaraj was introduced to the participants. She talked about her journey as a young change maker and shared the insights that she learnt till now. So many students got inspired from her because Ms.Shikha was herself a student of St.Joseph’s College. She also answered questions of all the budding participants who wanted to become a changemaker like her. The session ended with a vote of thanks from Ms.Tenzin Noryang 2^nd Program Coordinator of SWSA.

Storytelling, Identity and Gender Equality in Leadership

 

The Social Work Students Association (SWSA) organized a talk with Mrs. Julia Benzinger who is an activist working for gender equality as well as an opera singer from Barcelona, Spain. The session was conducted on 25^th February, 2021 at 4 p.m., The emcee for the event Ms. Renu Philips of 1^st MSW, welcomed the speaker. After a melodious prayer song sung by Ms. Girija of 1^st MSW, the moderator, Ms. Nimisha of 2^nd BSW introduced the speaker and Mrs. Julia started her session.

     Mrs. Julia with her ample amount of knowledge talked about herself on what she wanted to be a scientist, discovering opera and performing in some of the most prestigious theatres around the world. She also shared about how she faced sexism on these platforms, being a mother as well as balancing art, advocacy and painting. She also conveyed the impact of storytelling and how the society views and treats them. She also shared her experience on how women were not given chances and the kind of roles provided are always the off-putting ones. She also talked about leadership and how representation and diversity in leadership is beneficial to companies, art and society.

     It was all very informative and shocking to know that this problem isn’t just in India but around the world. It was indeed a huge eye opener to all of us. After her talk, the speaker answered the questions by participants. Ms. Diya James of 1^st MSW gave the vote of thanks. Mrs. Latha Paul , Assistant professor , also thanked Mrs. Julia on behalf of the department for sharing her vast knowledge on the topic.