Question

Social worker pioneers have impacted and influenced the field of social work. Select an individual who was/is a social worker pioneer. Identify and discuss: Lifespan, early life, description of the problem they addressed, efforts led by the pioneer to address the problem identified, strategies used. What were the goals the pioneer worked towards achieving? Discuss how these efforts impacts how we practice social work today. As an aspiring social worker would you have done anything differently. Explain.

Answer 1

Raja Rammohan Roy

Raja Rammohan Roy was an Indian social worker pioneer. He was born in Radhanagar, Bengal Presidency in May 1772 into a Bengali Hindu family. He is popularly known as the ‘Father of Modern India’ or ‘Father of the Bengal Renaissance’. He studied Bengali and Sanskrit in village school, then went to Patna for studying Arabic and Persian in a madarsa. After that, he studied Sanskrit and Hindu scripture in Benaras. During his visit to England as an ambassador of Mughal king Akbar Shah ll in 1833, he died of a disease.

There are lot of contributions made by him in Indian society.His contributions have given leading path for modern India. He has made immense contributions towards women emancipation. He opposed Sati pratha, polygamy, child marriage, and propagated widow remarriage. He also opposed idolatry and caste system. He focussed on rationalism and modern scientific approach.He endorsed social equality of all human beings. Many schools had been started by him to educate Indians in Western scientific education in English.He was against the prevalent polytheism of Hinduism and opposed idolatry. He supported and advocated monotheism as provided in the scriptures. For denouncing Sati pratha as barbaric, he started the Sambad Kaumudi, a Bengali weekly newspaper. In 1828, he founded the Brahmo Sabha which was later renamed Brahmo Samaj. He had also founded the Atmiya Sabha in 1815. It was against priesthood, rituals, idolatry, polytheism and sacrifices. It stressed on prayers, meditation and reading of the scriptures. It was the first intellectual reform movement in modern India where social evils then practiced where criticized and condemned, and efforts made to eliminate them from society. It led to the rise of rationalism and enlightenment in Indian society which indirectly contributed to the nationalist movement. He contributed a lot for the improvement in the position of women. He advocated education of women. His efforts led to the abolition of Sati in 1829 by Lord William Bentinck.Raja Ram Mohan Roy and his Brahmo Samaj played a vital role in awakening Indian society about issues like women emancipation, religious reform, etc.

These efforts made by Raja Rammohan Roy have impacted our current social work. Now people opposes evils against women without any fear. Present social worker take inspiration from him while working for the emancipation of women. People questions bad religious rituals rationally without any fear. Therefore, I think, his contributions have shaped our today's social work.

As an aspiring social worker, I have been doing many things differently. I am working for the education of tribal girls at Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra (India). I am teaching them various subjects and encouraging them for getting education. I am also creating awareness among them about the importance of sanitation and health care.