Mangalore, Feb 21: 'Spandana – 2013', a two-day national-level student social workers' symposium on 'Convergence of Social work methods for social transformation' organised by Roshni Nilaya School of Social Work, Mangalore, was inaugurated in the college premises here on Thursday.
The symposium was inaugurated by the chief guest in a unique way by cutting the ribbons which represented the 'chains of struggle' in a mime-act by the students depicting the various problems of the society.
Speaking after inaugurating the symposium, Joint Director of Department of Collegiate Education, Mangalore Dr Devanand R Gaonkar said that it was sad that corruption had seeped even into the domain of educational institutions, apart from private, banking and government sectors in India.
“It is dangerous if good people remain silent against an evil such as corruption, which silently kills the entire nation like a cancer and may affect our kith and kin tomorrow. Corruption is not just a moral issue, but it also has economic angle to it. If allowed to continue, it may lead to the collapse of the entire economic growth in the country,” he said, stating that e-governance and transparency in the system were the best methods to control it.
Listing out four weaknesses of the country in a SWOT analysis, he said that only when we were aware of our weaknesses, we could improve ourselves. “Our first weakness as Indians is that we are hesitant to tell the truth and second, we do not want to accept a change in the society. Third, no person has faith in secularism in a secularistic democracy like India, and fourth, the law is so weak that even though many are accused in scams, no one is punished. As citizens of India, if we imbibe four qualities such as honesty, humanity, civic sense and being non-corrupt, we may be able to find the solution for those weaknesses,” he said, stressing on the need to struggle against corruption.
Collective efforts to eradicate the bane of corruption should commence from today. There is a need for strong legislation and strong willpower. But the prime way to snub corruption is through the attitude of people, he said, encouraging students to join the war against it.
Fulbright visiting lecturer at Manipal University Department of Public Health Dr Susan M Becker delivered a lecture on 'Evidence-based Social Work – From concept to implementation' and said that knowledge had to be managed more effectively in the present age than it had been in the past. “The challenge is to rethink our views of what knowledge is and how best to facilitate its rapid generation, sharing and application in social work,” she said.
A souvenir of the national-level symposium and a manual on 'Child Mental Health' were released during the inaugural programme.
Principal of the college Dr Sophia N Fernandes presided over the programme. Convenor of Student Council Celine D'Sa welcomed the gathering.
Dean of MSW Dr Rameela Shekhar, Student Welfare Officer Meena Monteiro and Director of Vishwas Trust, Mangalore Dr Olinda Pereira were present on the occasion.
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