At least 35 schools vandalised, broken into during summer holidays, WCED tells MPLs

CAPE TOWN - At least 35 schools in Western Cape were either broken into or vandalised during the summer school holidays.

The Western Cape Education Department briefed the provincial standing committee on education on its state of readiness for the 2025 school year.

The committee heard that out of the 475 schools that had security services on-site over the December holidays, 21 of them reported incidents of burglary or vandalism.

The department's deputy director-general, Alan Meyer, said 47 incidents of burglary or vandalism were reported at 35 schools across the province.

Meyer has commended some communities for their intervention and ensuring that numbers were not higher than what had been reported.

"One of these schools had both school-funded and Safe Schools-subsidized guarding services, yet they still burgled that school. The schools, though, where the community has taken ownership of the school, it's very different. 

"The incidents of vandalism and burglary are significantly lower because the community around the school calls the principal and say there are unwanted people on our school premises."