Social Work Eco Friendly Team in collaboration with ITC WOW

Social Work Eco Friendly Team, School of Social Work organised a Dry Waste Management Awareness Campaign in collaboration with ITC WOW (Well Being Out of Waste) on October 22^nd, 2022 at St. Joseph’s University Bengaluru.

 The main speaker for the day was Mr. Jena Sudhakaran, Program Officer from ITC WOW, who spoke about dry waste management, including segregation of waste, why it is important to segregate waste, and how this process can affect waste-pickers and landfills. He spoke about segregating our daily household waste into wet waste, dry waste, biomedical waste, e-waste, and reject waste. He also spoke about the responsibility of waste management on each and every individual, because each one of us is responsible for waste generation.

 The session was very interactive, as the students actively participated in the awareness campaign and made the event successful.

 

SWSA INAUGURATION 2022-23

Social Work Student Association, School of Social Work had their INAUGURATION CEREMONY for the year 2022-23 on October 19^th, 2022. The inauguration was started by the prayer song and followed by a welcome message. The programme was then followed by the chief guest for the day, Mr. Anand Kumar, addressing the gathering.

 The inauguration programme was then taken forward by the Dean of the School of Social Work, Dr. Fr. Augustine Lourdu who spoke about SWSA and the importance of the association in promoting social change and learning.  

The inauguration programme was then followed by the chief guest inaugurating SWSA and the introduction of the core committee by the SWSA coordinator, Ms. Viola Maria Noronha, where she introduced the elected members of the core committee, followed by an oath taking ceremony. The oath taking ceremony was the essence of the program, and it was an overwhelming experience as the elected core committee of SWSA became the first committee of St. Joseph's University.

 The programme was then taken over by the students of the School of Social Work, where the students had cultural activities including dance performances, singing, and skit performance. Concluding the programme, Moukuhi Dutta Phukan, elected president of SWSA 2022-2023 addressed the vote of thanks.

SWEFT INAUGURATION : 2022-2023

 SWEFT INAUGURATION - 2022-2023

The annual inauguration ceremony of the Social Work Eco-Friendly Team (SWEFT) for the year 2022-2023 took place in the Xavier Hall of the university on 28th September, 2022. 

The ceremony was conducted in collaboration with ITC. The chief guest for the event were Mr. Akshay Heblikar  the director of ECHO WATCH and Ms. Mansi Mishra from ITC. The Dean of the School of Social Work, Dr. Fr. Augustine Lourdu, emphasised the importance of the environment, its impact on contemporary society, and in particular, the harmful effects of plastics on the environment. Later, the chief guest, Mr. Heblikar, addressed the gathering  and highlighted the fact that the environment has a direct impact on our wellbeing and that we as human beings who depend on the environment for our very survival must learn to respect and preserve it. Mansi Mishra from WOW initiative by ITC also spoke about how waste management is integral in our everyday lives and how it can be easily practiced and how WOW makes it possible  with its initiative. 

The programme was followed by an energetic and informative skit on the need to preserve the environment, enacted by the members of SWEFT. The event concluded with the distribution of certificates to former members of the SWEFT team.

Inauguration Ceremony by Honorable President of India

On September 27th 2022, St. Joseph's University, which in July, 2022 was upgraded from a college to a University under the RUSA scheme of the MHRD, was inaugurated by the Honorable President of India,  Smt. Droupadi Murmu in the presence of the Honorable Governor of Karnataka, Shri. Thaawar Chand Gehlot, the Honorable Chief Minister of Karnataka, Shri. Basvaraj Bommai, the Honorable Minister for Higher Education, Shri Dr. C.N. Ashwanath Narayan, Rev. Dr. Peter Machado, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Bangalore, and Rev. Fr Dionysius Vaz SJ, the Chancellor of St. Joseph's University.

This is a truly proud moment for the management, the alumini, the faculty, and the students. Congratulations to all.

Justice Beyond Gender

A documentary screening cum panel discussion on section 498A was organised by the school of social work, St. Joseph's College (Autonomous), Bengaluru in association with Purush Adhikar Sangh, represented by Mr. Vivek Deveshwar, on the 11th of April, 2022. Students from all batches of the school of social work attended the programme. Dr. Fr. Agustine Lourdu, Dean, School of Social Work, welcomed the gathering. The documentary screened was titled- 'Martyrs of Marriage', directed by award winning director Ms. Deepika Narayan Bharadwaj. The documentary highlighted the features as well as many case studies that show the wide-scale misuse of this section of the law resulting in the suicide of a number of men along with the imprisonment of millions of innocent family members. The documentary was an eye-opener for many. The screening was followed by a virtual address by the Director. Dr. Mary Princess Lavanya from the school of social work, introduced the director to the gathering. As part of the Q & A session, Ms. Bharadwaj shared her experience of working on such issues along with the challenges associated with it such as the backlash from feminist groups. Later, there was a panel discussion on the matter with Ms. Tanya (name changed) who along with her brother have been facing false accusations under 498A and are fighting for justice. The programme concluded at around 3:30 PM with the vote of thanks by Dr. S. Rama Gokula Krishnan, the faculty co-ordinator of the programme. An anonymous feedback survey revealed that majority (73.7 per cent) of the students have rated it as 'excellent' apart from several positive comments, highlighting the success of the programme. 

Alumni Lecture Series II – Social Work & HIV/AIDS

The first lecture of the Alumni Lecture Series II was held on 3^rd December 2021. It was on the theme, ‘Social Work and HIV/AIDS’. The resource person for the session was Ms. Maria Sonia Louis, Counsellor and Researcher. She has experience in working with HIV/AIDS affected women and children as a Medical Social Worker. She has also worked as Counsellor for advanced stage cancer patients (Palliative Care). The programme began with the invocation song by Elina from 1^st BSW. Marryam from 3^rd BSW, the emcee welcomed the gathering and gave a brief introduction to the session. The moderator, Shravani from 3^rd BSW introduced the speaker and familiarised the audience to the topic. After which, the speaker, Ms. Maria Louis addressed the gathering. She threw light on the meaning and transmission of HIV/AIDS, the misconceptions among people regarding the disease, treatment and its preventive measures. She emphasised on the role of social workers while working with people who are suffering from HIV/AIDS. She highlighted the importance of counselling and the role of palliative care in HIV/AIDS. The lecture was an eye opener for the budding social workers who were present. The moderator gave the concluding remarks. The session ended with the vote of thanks by Ann Maria, President of SWSA. 

Human Rights Week Celebration – Ambedkar Memorial Lecture 2021

The Ambedkar Memorial lecture was held on 6^th December 2021 through the MS Teams platform. The resource person for the lecture was Dr. Tanoj Meshram, Former Civil Servant, Social Activist and Researcher. The program started by invoking God’s blessings with a prayer song. Then, Chitra from 2^nd MSW – Emcee of the program highlighted the importance of Human Rights and the significance of the Ambedkar Memorial Lecture. Dr. Mary Princess Lavanya - Associate Professor, School of Social Work welcomed the gathering. Then, the Moderator: Rev. Dr. Augustine Lourdu, Dean of School of Social Work took over the session and gave a brief introduction to the topic and the resource person. This was followed by Dr. Tanoj Meshram ’s address about Dr. Ambedkar, his early life, education, how he faced caste discrimination and untouchability in his life and how he got inspired to work towards removing discrimination. Dr. Ambedkar made a positive impact on the lives of many people who strive for a just society where all are equal with no discrimination. His ideas got incorporated into the constitution and they stand for equality, freedom, and Abolition of social evils. Dr. Ambedkar was an advocate of promoting the light of education. He also stated that Dr. Ambedkar worked towards a society where women are granted equal rights as those of men. At the end, the resource person threw light on the role of a social workers in promoting the idea of Ambedkarism, how important it is for us to take his idea forward and fight against the injustices in our society. The lecture was followed by the Q and A session where students actively participated in the discussion. Dr. Augustine then gave the concluding remarks. Janane Shree – Treasurer of SWSA delivered the vote of thanks. The session was very inspiring and enlightening.