Sadly, too much news coming out of our schools swings to the negative. And when it peaks, it often eclipses the positive outcomes being achieved.

No one in this country should be ignorant of the fact that the responsibilities assigned to schools nowadays go far beyond the three Rs — reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic.

Schools have undertaken a greater role in nurturing and framing youngsters into responsible adults.

Educators and school administrators have long been supported by the Church. And various programmes have been a part of the formula; among them uniformed groups — Scouts, Guides, Brownies — and clubs — Rotaract, Key, Optimist.

In recent years there has been a rise in formal mentorship initiatives as more hands join the mission to impact society.

Recently, there was much talk about female entertainer Spice, formally Ms Grace Hamilton, embarking on a school tour. Known for her daring and often raunchy performances, some quarters voiced objection.

Ms Hamilton initially stood down her tour, but after being granted audience with the ministers of education and entertainment — Mesdames Dana Morris Dixon and Olivia “Babsy” Grange, respectively — news has come that the tour will resume.

No society exists in which everyone shares the same values, but civilised society is usually able to coalesce around a theme — the packaging, however, showing obvious variations.

Ms Hamilton comes with her own blue shade of packaging, but what is not in question is her ambition to support the effort in putting in place intervention strategies to meet the youth where they are, in their own circumstances.

Admittedly, she already commands the attention of this cohort, so there is no need to get our knickers in a twist and rob her of a chance to play her part.

Entertainers taking to the road to engage youngsters is by no means new; we’ve seen stars from various genres trod the island.

In previous years, the Jamaica Observer’s own TeenAge publication carried out nationwide school tours aided by entertainers to much success.

The result was students, if only for a few hours, were able to hear the stories of trials, mistakes, and struggle of their superstars and can now train their lives’ trajectory to achieve more.

The fact is, if one child is aided by the effort and is shown a path that results in better decision-making it would have been worth it.

A recent news item shared that upper high school boys across St Thomas were responding positively to a sexual violence intervention programme being spearheaded by non-profit organisation Angelic Ladies Society.

The programme, dubbed ‘Echoes of Change: The Problem with the P’, has reached six schools and some 70 boys with hopes to do more.

The group previously targeted girls and now has changed lanes to meet the needs of boys.

Project lead Ms Sara-Lou Morgan-Walker told JIS News that the discussions, so far, have been riveting as facilitators and students delve into the topic of sexual violence.

“[W]e are only assisting them to ensure that the dialogue continues to ensure that we are hearing what is being said in the room and to add variety to the context of the conversation,” Ms Morgan-Walker said.

The programme has had to understand the reality of its subjects in being able to provide the appropriate interventions to effect positive behavioural change.

That’s the only way to reach today’s at-risk youth.

Let us focus on the message, not the messenger; intervention is intervention.