KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 3 — The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) and Malaysian Association of Social Workers (MASW) called on lawmakers today to hasten the tabling of the Social Work Profession (PKS) Bill, as the Parliament sits for its third meeting next week.
Unicef Malaysia’s Chief of Child Protection Saskia Blume said enacting the bill will acknowledge and support the invisible role of social work while ensuring Malaysians have access to the best social workers since professionally-trained social workers are crucial in various settings.
The lack of regulation of social work hinders the potential of social workers to contribute effectively to society because the bill would ensure the quality and accountability of social work.
“There is a need for trained social workers because there are 18,750 cases of child abuse recorded by the Social Welfare Department and the Royal Malaysian Police reported 13,529 cases of domestic violence between 2020 and 2022,” she said during the press briefing in conjunction with the Social Workers: Heroes Among Us campaign today.
Blume pointed out that social work is unregulated in Malaysia, unlike in other Asean countries like the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, and Indonesia. Malaysia has only one social worker for every 8,576 people, compared to Singapore (1:3,448), the United Kingdom (1:3,025), and Australia (1:490).
Meanwhile, Secretary of MASW Amy Bala said the general public has yet to understand the real meaning of social workers, with many Malaysians viewing them as charity workers.
Thus, the PKS Bill can create awareness; enable the public to recognise professional social workers when seeking assistance and state clearly the professional standards and consequences for non-compliance to ensure public safety.
“For social workers, the bill gives professional status and recognises them as valued professionals; providing professional training and encouraging appropriate remuneration,” she said.
Amy noted that social work is an established academic discipline in 12 higher learning institutions in this country offering diplomas to PhD programmes. However, not all individuals working in social work are professionally trained due to lack of regulation.
She is also confident the government will soon table and pass the bill to acknowledge the role of social work in community development in line with the government’s vision for Malaysia Madani.
The PKS Bill, formerly known as the Social Worker’s Bill was first approved by the Cabinet in 2010 and is currently under review by the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development.
— Bernama
