IUG Social Work Department, in cooperation with UNICEF held a workshop to discuss ways of reinforcing concepts of child protection in social work curriculums. The workshop, which was held in Tayba Building, was attended by Dr. Ahmed Ar-Rantisi, President of IUG Social Work Department, Dr. Susan Costello, professor at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology RMIT in Australia, also consultant with UNICEF, Dr. Safa’a Nasr, programs official at UNICEF in addition to Miss. Mona A’abed, UNICEF Social Work Advisory and a group of specialists and IUG Social work Department members.
RMIT University Professor Dr. Costello stressed on the importance of providing Social Work Curriculum with Child protection courses and cocnepts. She also praised IUG’s cooperation and care to serve education and students. Dr. Costello said,” If the social worker is not motivated and serious, he won’t have any effective role in the society.” She also said that discussing child protection topics suit the current situation in Gaza strip, which requires knowledge about dealing with children.
For his part, Dr. Ar-Rantisi said that this meeting is the first to put guidelines for the integrated programme between IUG and UNICEF that is related to developing Social Work Department curriculum, and include children security programmes. Dr. Ar-Rantisi also praised UNICEF efforts to help and develop education. Moreover, he pointed out the strong relation between IUG and UNICEF through discussing and implementing projects and programs serving students, IUG and society.
The workshop discussed many topics including, respecting children rights, importance of children knowledge of their rights, and respecting the role of the family since it is the core of the society. The workshop also stressed the importance of giving children their rights, and how to discuss children issues in the curriculum in addition to understanding students needs and how to support them.
The workshop recommendations included positively explaining the courses and providing them with real-life examples, enriching the curriculum by hosting specialists to explain some issues and link students with the practical part. Also, it recommended identifying obstacles that face social work students in their work and enhancing cooperation between academic institutions and specialist centers in child protection.
