The ongoing vandalism of schools is a threat that may scupper any efforts at improving the quality of education delivery in SA.
Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic with its attendant lockdown-enforced school closures, thieves have found an opportunity to heighten their nefarious activities of stripping schools of valuable learning and teaching materials.
The July failed insurrection also accelerated the rate of school vandalism. According to Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi, schools have been targets of vandals since the Covid lockdown started in March last year and this was exacerbated by the unrest.
At one school in Gauteng, vandals broke in four times in one month. In Mpumalanga it is reported that more than 140 schools have been broken into since March last year. Meanwhile, the Gauteng education department reported to the education portfolio committee two months ago that 401 schools had been hit by criminals, some broken into, stripped of their infrastructure or burnt.
The vandals target mostly learning materials such as computers, internet servers and laptops. Other schools are targeted for their digital smartboards with items such as electrical cabling, copper pipes, aluminium frames, toilet taps, windows, classroom doors and steel palisade equipment serving as additional loot. These are apparently sold for a song to feed some of these vandals’ drug addiction.
Public interest law centre, Section27 applied to be admitted as amis curiae (friends of the court) in a case about unsafe school infrastructure in Gauteng. This follows an incident in 2017 where a matric pupil died after being electrocuted at school because the circuit breakers, earth leakage and other electrical equipment were repeatedly stolen.
The vandalism of SA schools is not something new but has always been a major national problem, particularly at township schools which serve the most disadvantaged communities.
What has also not changed is the negative impact that vandalism exerts on the education of arguably the poorest sectors of our population who cannot afford to send their children to “better” schools in other areas. It is in these communities that education can turn fortunes around. Children are robbed of opportunities to explore the digital world and thus improve their chances in life.
Education is crucial in breaking the cycle of poverty. In the book, “From Poverty to Power” by Duncan Green, the author states that “good quality education is emancipatory, a path to greater freedom and choice, and opens the door to improved health, earning opportunities, and material well-being”.
It is through education that communities can break the transmission of deprivation from one generation to the next. Without education, the cycle of inequality will be perpetuated.
The sad part about school vandalism is that the perpetrators of these acts of sabotage are known and mostly from the same communities that these schools serve. These crimes are not reported by residents for fear of being labelled impimpis or spies.
According to Lesufi, changing the mindset of communities has been an uphill battle with residents not caring about schools. This certainly has to change.
The sadder part is that the department of education has declared that there was no budget to cover the stolen items. This will increase the negative impact on learning and rob the children of their deserved bright future.
The protection of schools cannot be the sole responsibility of the department and the police. What is needed is the involvement of the community to ensure the safety of schools and the assets within them.
Community forums should be established with school crime prevention as their main priority. Members of the community can then take turns at guarding the schools.
These policing forums should work in conjunction with the police and avoid taking the law into their own hands. Crimes should be reported to the police as soon as they occur and the perpetrators should have the book thrown at them for their acts of sabotage. It is only through the collaboration between schools, the police and the communities that crime in schools can be eradicated.
There are examples where collaboration has yielded positive dividends. In Braamfischerville, Soweto, taxi drivers use school premises to park their taxis overnight and in return protect the schools. This excellent initiative must be emulated in other areas as it is mutually beneficial, not in the Zuma/Shaik sense, for both the schools and the taxi drivers. The taxi drivers park their cars for free and hire security to protect both their vehicles and the schools.
It is only through such initiatives that involve the schools and communities that the scourge of vandalism can be obliterated and the education and future of our children preserved.
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