Cape Town - Education watchdogs have called on the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) to be transparent with its budget and the names of security companies employed during holidays, in the wake of vandalism and burglaries at schools.

As the new academic year started on Wednesday, the WCED said they were still tallying the number of schools affected by vandalism and burglary.

WCED spokesperson, Bronagh Hammond, said they continued to receive complaints of criminal acts that transpired at schools during the holiday.

Stacey Jacobs, Equal Education researcher, said vandalism and burglary at schools negatively impacted children and their learning environment.

“Equal Education’s own research into school safety in the Western Cape found that major threats to learner safety included theft of personal property, burglary, and significant vandalism, amongst other threats such as drug abuse, alcohol use and gang violence.

“Repeated break-ins and vandalism in schools rob some learners of their right to quality and basic education, especially where schools are unable to start their academic year or there are disruptions to learning because learning and teaching support materials and goods are stolen.

“Delays in starting the school year in this way mean that some learners lose out on days of learning which is likely to impact their overall school experience.

“There is also the issue of social and monetary cost to schools, staff and learners.”

A year ago, the WCED said despite providing holiday security to 486 schools during the December holidays, they recorded 26 incidents of burglary and vandalism at 24 schools.

Vanessa le Roux of Parents for Equal Education called for the WCED to be transparent on the security companies they employed during the holidays.

“Every year we have this issue and we need to ask which security companies are employed and how much do they earn?” she said.

“How are contracts given but our schools are not kept safe?

“The department together with Safer Schools know which are their red zones and in areas like Delft, over R12 000 is given to keep 12 schools safe.

“Then there are bigger companies, who are going to keep a school safe for a payment of R50 per day during the school holidays.

“We need to stop just speaking about the vandalism, we need to know who the companies are, so we can hold them accountable as they receive thousands and millions of rands.”

Cape Argus