A ‘POSITIVE Discipline’ campaign will soon be rolled out by the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) in collaboration with the Education Ministry to enhance the ways in which parents and teachers discipline and communicate with children.

UNICEF’s Country Representative Sylvie Fouet made the disclosure on Thursday during a ‘Press Café’, the first of its kind for the UN agency here.

In fielding questions from Guyana Chronicle, Fouet explained that the campaign is being birthed from a series of consultations that took place with stakeholders approximately one year ago.

“That consultation took place about a year ago and we also involved children themselves. It was important because the way of teaching has to change,” Fouet explained.
Weighing in on the matter, Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, Michael Gillis, said the organisation started the collection of data in 2014.

That data gave an indication of the kind of discipline being practised. A situation analysis was also done on women and children that indicated what was happening and why it was happening. It was found too that there were key issues in hinterland communities.

“We then followed the lead of the data and then collected the information about indigenous women and children. There is a whole lot of evidence which moved beyond what is happening in school, what is being practised in society. The positive discipline campaign was really evidence-informed,” he said.

The analysis found that corporal punishment was being practised at a very high level with over 70 per cent of parents administering some form of corporal punishment for different reasons.
“The positive discipline campaign will bring additional tools and ways of disciplining,” he said.

Communication Specialist Frank Robinson relayed some recommendations that could be adhered to by parents to aid in their discipline technique. He said, instead of hitting the child, parents can explain why the behaviour is not in keeping with what the parent would like.

“Give the child the chance to understand the severity of the action or behaviour by sitting and talking with the child,” he recommended.
At the same time, he said children need to understand that while they have rights, they also have responsibilities.

“So, it’s more of an empowerment-type methodology in terms of disciplining children and so far, … with parents and schools that practise positive disciplining, we have seen positive changes,” Robinson said.

UNICEF has already produced a video showcasing the perspective of children on the subject. A second video is currently being produced that will give the perspective and views of the parents on positive discipline.