DID you know that music can play a major part in brain development? Music carries vibrations that affect your brain, usually in a good way. It has been scientifically proven that more blood flows to the brain when you are listening to music that you like; than music that you dislike. Listening to music that you enjoy can release certain ‘feel-good’ chemicals in your brain.

Music can reduce stress, pain and symptoms of depression. Music can affect heart rate, blood pressure, and hormones. However, certain types of music can harm the brain, even if the music is enjoyed by the listener. (e.g. loud, distorted or abrasive music) Listening to music can improve critical thinking skills; it can also impact human behaviour: music can be addictive.

Every day hundreds of mini-buses are driven around our beautiful capital city Georgetown and beyond, filled with adults and children. They take us here and there for the most part safely, though the journey itself can be distressing and daunting for many passengers. This is due to some minibus drivers and their conductors who do not have their passengers comfort and safety at heart.

On some perilous expeditions, passengers are treated as if they have no say in the type of experience they receive on their journey. Many passengers accept this fact and remain tight-lipped regardless of the lawless music being played or whether they are being squashed four or five in a seat that is really meant for three.  Some people call it the ‘mini-bus culture’ and most illiterate people might go on to say, ‘if you do not like it then catch a next bus or take a taxi.’

While alternative transportation is a solution, it shouldn’t have to be. If a ‘public’ service is being provided, then surely the ‘public’ should have a say as to whether they feel safe, comfortable or are distressed or offended by elements of their journey.

The volume of the music and its contents on some mini-buses are deplorable.
The lyrics, nine times out of 10, are about sex or sexual encounters but can range from the humiliation of women to their private parts and their undergarments. This is not what children or even adults should be subjected to, just because they need to use public transportation.
If this is what is offered to children, then this is what they will accept. They don’t know better and so they join in with and memorise the lyrics using valuable space in their brains, when they could be learning something much more edifying and beneficial to their lives.

Drivers and conductors who enjoy this type of music should do so in the privacy and comfort of their homes and not on public transport. But why is this ill in our society so readily accepted by adults and parents who should know better and should want better for their children? Can you imagine being assaulted by such a degrading barrage of utter obscenity and nonsense on a bus in Canada or Europe? It would never happen: the public would be up in arms.

Because music has such a great impact on its listeners, we are left to wonder what type of mindset is subliminally being formed in our society by this trend. As mentioned earlier, music is addictive and it can impact human behaviour. Who can tell what type of lessons children are learning during these journeys when their heart rates, blood pressure and hormones are involuntarily being affected by the vibrations and they are being made to conjure up images from the lyrics while on their way to school.

It is a form of child abuse that has been allowed to fester, unchecked, undiscussed and it does not appear to be acknowledged as a problem. If we want our children to travel on public transport without having to second-guess what type of journey to which they are being subjected, then it seems we may need to demand that right from the vehicle owners.

If our aim as adults is to protect and guide the children of our country, then we cannot be half-hearted in our approach; we must call out wrong as we see it and join forces to change the same. Our children should be given every opportunity to find themselves and strive and grow to their potential before they become tainted by an element of our society that is badly in need of reform. If you would like to share an opinion, idea or solution to this problem write to childcaregy@gmail.com

If you are concerned about the welfare of a child call the CPA hotline on 227 0979 or write to us at childcaregy@gmail.com
A MESSAGE FROM THE CHILDCARE AND PROTECTION AGENCY,
MINISTRY OF SOCIAL PROTECTION