The National Commis-sion on the Rights of the Child (NCRC) will conduct a national workshop aimed at exploring alternatives to corporal punishment in the homes and schools.
The 'Discipline Without Beating' workshop will he held on June 16 and 17 and will have 150 participants from all over Guyana, including 30 children drawn from primary and secondary schools.
The workshop will also reflect on the escalating violence in society and consider ways in which such violence can be reduced, according to NCRC Chairman, First Lady Varshnie Jagdeo.
She said the commission is not against discipline and it does not remove the right of parents to discipline children; it is not challenging parental authority. But instead, NCRC is interested in knowing how children feel about being beaten and what they propose as alternatives.
Similar workshops have been planned for New Amsterdam, Anna Regina, Linden, Mabaruma and Bartica, to spread the word that there are effective alternatives to beating in order to discipline children.
The First Lady said that after the workshop is concluded recommendations will be made to Minister of Education Dr Henry Jeffrey in the hope that Cabinet will look at them and later open a debate on corporal punishment.