By Sacha Walters, Staff Reporter

Left: Etana at the No Violence in School Tour at Munro College, St. Elizabeth. - Ricardo Makyn   Right: G-Whizz - Norman Grindley

Very few students are exempt from violence in schools and two artistes on the No Violence in School Tour said they are no exception.

The tour which is organised by THE STAR, bMobile and Hype TV has got rave reviews from the screaming students in the audiences.

Two artistes who have been on the bill since the beginning, G-Whizz and Etana, have had to grapple with violence while going to school.

While in the 7th grade in Miami, Etana now 23 years old, said that there was rivalry between American students and students from other countries. One day she said that some students requested her to speak and when they heard her Jamaican accent she was attacked. After that she said she joined a Jamaican gang and they protected each other.

Things could have been different she said, "If we had some artistes to look up to who'd say don't do that."

G-Whizz another young artiste on the tour said while attending Vauxhall High School it was routine for men being chased by the police to run through the school. In other instances the school had to be closed because of the violence in the area.

"You just get used to the whole thing, it just became the norm," he said.

Since he believes that music is such a powerful medium he thinks that teenagers will listen more readily to artistes while enjoying the music than if they were addressed about the issues by a group of speakers.

Etana believes that another useful method would be if the artistes could have conversations with approximately five students and get them to open up about the issues affecting them.

"They'll open up more to a young person," she said not so readily with parents and teachers.