A law and social work alumnus of Calcutta University, with advanced diplomas in child rights and public service management from Sweden, Prof. Joydev Mazumdar is executive director of the Vidyasagar School of Social Work (a unit of the Jayaprakash Institute of Social Change founded by the late Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan in 1973), affiliated with Vidyasagar University, West Bengal. The school of social work of the Jayaprakash Institute of Social Change (JISC) is the only NGO accredited by the University Grants Commission.

Newspeg. Earlier this year, JISC was given the mandate to conduct a needs assessment survey for child protection agencies and prepare a District Child Protection Plan for all districts in the state by the department of child development, the government of West Bengal, with technical and financial support from the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef). Prof. Mazumdar completed the assignment and submitted his report in November.

History. A widely acclaimed expert on child rights and education, Prof. Mazumdar played a key role in drafting the state rules for the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, Prohibition of Child Marriages Act, 2006, the Welfare and Maintenance of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 and the Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005. With more than 25 years of experience in the field of social development with specialisation in child rights and protection, Mazumdar has conducted important research studies on juvenile justice, child labour, child domestic workers, human trafficking etc in collaboration with the Union government, Unicef and Save the Children (UK).

Direct talk. ”My aim is to provide professional training in social work to government and NGO personnel based on applied social sciences and social action and invest them with knowledge, skills, attitudes and appropriate values. I believe that students of the social sciences should be familiar with an array of cultural and community perspectives and adopt alternative, multi-faceted approaches to learning, analysis and problem solving,” says Mazumdar.

Future plans. Following completion of the District Child Protection Plan for West Bengal, Mazumdar’s next priority is to train and develop a cadre of professional social workers to execute and implement the plan. “I plan to start a counselling centre staffed by expert professionals to deal with problems of mental health by early next year which will serve the need of field practicum for students. Moreover, I’m also working on starting a research and monitoring unit,” says Mazumdar.

God speed.

Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata)