Group Work Practices of Social Work Effecting In Changing the Integrated Child Development Programes in India and How Can It Change the World Problem
Abstract
Dr Soumen Acharya
Nineteen per cent of world’s children live in India. Of all the children in the world, one in five is an Indian. India is home to more than one billion people, of which 42 per cent are children, defined as persons under 18 years of age. Women and children constitute seventy two percent of the population of India. The women and children homogenous whole. A great deal of heterogeneity exist. The form of marginalize and vulnerable group of sc, st, obc, and other religious minorities suffer multiple challenge. Women from these group and even more disadvantages as they are subject to additional discrimination on account of societal construct of gender and the consequently adverse power balance. The main problem with the minorities is that no proper database of these have been done. The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme since 1975 for delivery of an integrated package of services relating to health, nutrition and non-formal education to children in the age group 0-6 years, pregnant women and nursing mothers. This package is aimed at improvement in the nutritional and health status of children in this age group, reduction in the incidence of mortality, morbidity, malnutrition and school drop-out rates, and enhancement of the capability of the mother to look after the health and nutritional needs of the child through proper nutrition and health education In short, these objectives which envisage the laying of the foundation for the proper psychological, physical and social development of the child, with appropriate support from the mother, aim at the ultimate goal of human resource development, in its broadest sense. The twin objective of this strategy being comprehensive child development and family welfare, effective coordination in the states, between the departments and agencies that are responsible for the major inputs in the program Wherever this convergence of the maternal and child health services and the ICDS program have been achieved Early childhood period (0-6 years) deserves special attention. It is due to the fact of accumulated scientific evidences that powerfully demonstrates in instituting either family and or centre based early childhood interventions so as to nurture (i) psycho - social development (cognition, motor, social, emotional and language) through maturation and interaction in an properly designed appropriate environment suiting to the child and (ii) generating long term social, economic and educational benefits in terms of lower rates of grades repetition; increased earning potential; reduction in juvenile delinquency; increased social mobilization; reduced social and economic inequalities; psycho - social readiness for school; reduction of drop out rate ; expanding universalization of elementary education ; improved parent - child interaction and finally reducing high developmental costs at later stage of life due to inadequate care. Numerically also, children less than 6 years of age constitute about 15 % of the total population. Of the total child population, 2.07 crore (6 per cent) are infants who are below 1 year; 4.17 crore (12 per cent) are toddlers in the age group of 1-2 years; and 7.73 crores (22.2 per cent) are pre scholars in the age group of 3-5 years. Thus one of the salient demographic features of our country is that it has a sizeable proportion of young population. India is not only home to 21 per cent of developing world’s young children but its young child population size is larger than the total population size of many countries. In 2016, about 25 million infants were immunization services and their mothers will require maternal health services. Similarly, pre school education services will need to be provided for 72 million children in 2016. No other nation in the world including China is likely to enjoy the benefits of such a large young population. This was done with the help of ICDS Programe. By using group work Today, social workers are not only the bridge linking clients to other helpers, they also provide their clients with hope, and encourage their first steps towards a new life. Social workers usually stand in the front line, and reach out to the clients soon after problems occur. They provide an initial assessment of the situation and mobilize other needed services. Social work uses a team approach and is multi-disciplined. Its goal is to provide a service to those who need help