Cape Town - One school day lost is a day too many, said the Western Cape Education Department (WCED), responding to reports that a number of schools stood empty on Thursday as pranksters terrorised neighbourhoods on Guy Fawkes day.
A Cape Argus photographer spotted pupils in Woodlands, Mitchells Plain running around, throwing paint at each other.
Some were spotted attempting to scale the fence at Woodlands High School.
A cleaner, who did not want to be named, said taxis and buses refused to travel deep into communities where paint-smearing was the norm, opting instead to drop commuters off outside their suburbs.
She feared having to walk from the drop-off point through the area to reach her home. She said taxi drivers were more concerned about their vehicles being smeared with paint and damaged than with the safety of commuters.
The disruption of classes happened even after the WCED called for extra police and law enforcement visibility in areas deemed to be high risk.
Panicked parents opted to keep their children at home out of fear of them becoming victims of Guy Fawkes pranksters.
Jessica Shelver, spokeswoman for Education MEC Debbie Schäfer, said schools in the metro north education district had reported attendance levels of below 30 percent.
“In metro south our district director reported very low attendance rates and it was reported to various schools that learners were out on the streets with plastic bags over their hands and carrying paint cans.”
She said some parents, mainly in Parkwood, had asked schools for assistance to help get their children to school.
Beacon View Primary, in Mitchells Plain, told the Cape Argus that the school was “almost empty”, with between six and eight pupils in some classrooms. Bishop Lavis High indicated that only its matric pupils were present, while Parkfields Primary, in Hanover Park, indicated that about 60 percent of its pupils were absent.
This week Schäfer indicated that the WCED had asked the police and law enforcement to be visible in areas where these activities had taken place in the past.
She also urged parents to ensure their children attended school on Guy Fawkes day and to dissuade them from participating in activities that could disrupt schooling.
Shelver said on Thursday: “It is unfortunate that parents had to keep their children at home because of these activities. Every school day lost is one too many.”
By late afternoon Shelver said there had been no reports of matric candidates being affected by the activities. They wrote their English exams on Thursday morning and economics that afternoon.
Last year, the Cape Argus reported that a pupil, who was believed to have become disorientated after being smeared with paint, had been hit by a car and had to be admitted to hospital.
Cape Argus