The Western Cape Education Department says incidents of burglary and vandalism were reported at 38 schools during the June/July holidays, despite the Western Cape Government subsidising holiday security at 436 schools.

The criminals mainly concentrated there efforts in the metro education districts, although the Department has refused to divulge the names or the exact location due to security reasons.

Thankfully, only one of the incidents was considered major.

Items stolen or damaged ranged from water piping to windows, cables to computers, fencing to fire safety equipment, stationery to security gates, and numerous other items.

The Department says the cost of replacing and repairing these is still being calculated, but will inevitably divert funding away from the essential task of educating learners.

MEC David Maynier says while the number of reporting incidents is a decrease from the 42 schools affected in the same holiday period in 2022, the number of incidents remains unacceptably high, and negatively affects children’s education.

The damage last year was estimated at almost R1 million.

RELATED: 42 Western Cape schools vandalised during the school holidays

Recently, the theft of water pipes at Crystal High resulted in a large portion of the school being flooded, forcing it to be closed temporarily.

“An entire group of learners had their teaching and learning time disrupted, despite us being able to accommodate them at another school while the water was drained.

At a time when we are providing extra classes to get our children #BackOnTrack, we simply cannot afford to have normal teaching and learning time disrupted by criminals targeting school property.”

He has called on community members and residents to report these crimes to the SAPS.

”Someone, somewhere, knows who the perpetrators of these crimes are. Someone, somewhere, will be offered the goods stolen from our schools.”

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