Social workers to require certification

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

To promote respect for the social worker profession, an association has endorsed the idea of providing certification for thousands of social workers across the country.

The chairman of the Indonesian Association of Social Workers (IPSPI), Puji Pujiono, told The Jakarta Post that the social welfare of Indonesians was deteriorating and social problems were becoming more complex. Thus, the acknowledgement of the social worker profession was more essential than ever.

"Based on this, we, social workers, have agreed to organize certification to improve our capacity and promote recognition of our profession among the public," he said over the weekend.

He explained that certification would only be required for those who had graduated from schools and universities majoring in social welfare or social work, and who intended to work in the social services.

"Certification is needed to differentiate professional social workers from charity workers, who are normally motivated by religious conviction. Professional social workers possess a special set of skills that are imparted through higher education and ethical training," he explained.

Although no up-to-date statistics are available, Puji estimates that there are at least 35,000 professional social workers in the country, 3,500 of whom are members of the IPSPI.

Besides encouraging recognition for the profession, he also stressed that certification was essential if Indonesian social workers were to be able to compete with their counterparts from neighboring countries.

"If we don't do it (certification) now, when ASEAN liberalizes its labor market, our country will be flooded with social workers from neighboring countries," he said, adding that the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore had applied certification schemes for their social workers years ago.

"Hopefully, after establishing a national professional board for social workers, we can begin the certification process next year," he said.

Currently, he said, social workers were employed by NGOs, the Ministry of Social Affairs, universities, hospitals, orphanages, charitable foundations and penitentiaries.

Chairman of Communications Forum for the Community of Social Workers Fadhlullah T.M. Daud supported the idea if the main intention was to increase the quality of the county's social workers.

"But, the most important thing is that certification should not prevent people from participating in voluntary activities, something that is still not popular here," he told the Post.