I GOT on a bus around 3.45pm one afternoon last week on my way to visit a friend in his village. Looking around, I realised the passengers were mostly schoolchildren, with only about three adults, myself included. Once full, the bus began to move towards the Linden car park and that’s when the ‘music’ began. Yes, it had a beat and instruments were being played, but the vocal content was, for me, very annoying.

The lyrics were lewd and distasteful; they kept referring to a woman’s private parts in the most derogatory way. As the bus sped along, the lyrics washed over us like a tidal wave, whether we liked it or not we were engulfed in our imaginations, conjuring up images of the picture the ‘singer’ was painting in our minds. I glanced around the bus and everyone was quiet, almost enthralled by the ‘music’. I wondered how many mothers and fathers were aware of this afternoon ‘entertainment’ to which their children were being subjected.

Bus drivers have a responsibility to carry children home safely, but during the journey it seems some of them are callously indoctrinating young minds by exposing them to sexually explicit lyrics: this is messing with their natural childhood development. These children were innocently coming home from school, why would they need such vulgar images in their heads? Drivers may argue that the children ‘like’ the music. If so, that would probably be because it is what they have been exposed to and as children, can we really expect them to know any better? Obviously, they will gravitate to anything that seems illicit and exciting: Especially as it’s unbeknown to their parents. (This is not true of all children, though most would go along with what the majority do).

Adults (including bus drivers) are meant to safeguard children and keep a look out for their best interests, not exploit their young minds by making them listen to sexually explicit lyrics. As adults we should be aware that some types of ‘music’ can be damaging rather than uplifting to the innocent minds of our children; and a lot of it is played on the buses that carry them around.

I got off the bus making a note of the driver’s face and registration number. At the time I was thinking that I would have a word with him the next time I saw him at the park. As some children disembarked alongside me, they were greeted by a woman with a smiling face and warm words. ‘Godchildren’, she said, ‘What did you learn in school today?’ This question so belied the bus experience we had just shared that I found myself telling her, ‘You need to ask them what they learnt on that bus ride’. I went on to explain about the ‘music’. As I walked off I heard her asking the children, ‘…And you didn’t tell the driver to change the music?’

Very few adults confront drivers or conductors about their ‘worthless’ music, so it is far-fetched to expect children to do so. No one wants to make a fuss, so it is more or less accepted as part of the culture that when you ride on a bus you take what you get. But adults (bus drivers and conductors) are responsible for the type of music children listen to while travelling. They should have a ‘care of duty’ towards their young passengers, because children rely on adults to guide them in the right way. If you’re a bus driver who picks up child passengers on a regular basis, please show some consideration. If you enjoy listening to vulgar music at home, please leave it there, (at home) don’t visit your preferences on people’s children. Why not make an effort to play music that relaxes the minds of young passengers after a long day at school, rather than disrupt their young, fertile minds with lewd nonsense?
If you are concerned about the welfare of a child, ring the CPA hotline on 227 0979 or write to childcaregy@gmail.com
A MESSAGE FROM THE CHILDCARE AND PROTECTION AGENCY, MINISTRY OF SOCIAL PROTECTION