It is not even four months into the schools' academic year and thugs have struck more than 280 times at Gauteng schools alone.

They stole computers worth thousands of rands and groceries meant for the schools' feeding scheme.

The matter has become so serious that Gauteng MEC for education Panyaza Lesufi's office is planning to get security companies to patrol schools as part of their corporate social responsibility.

In February, six men held up guards at gunpoint at Steve Biko Secondary School in Hammanskraal and stole 40 tablets.

They broke into the storeroom, broke the safe and made off with the tablets, money and cellphones.

Sowetan also reported last year that 1188 tablets had been stolen at Gauteng schools.

These were tablets that were distributed through the government's Gauteng Online programme.

But this scourge is not only limited to Gauteng. Just this week, burglars struck at Limpopo's Shitlhangona High School in Malamulele and stole 22 laptops.

And last month, 18 laptops were stolen from EPP Hlungwani High School, also in Malamulele.

In Western Cape, burglars struck 1096 times between March 2014 and February this year.

Spokeswoman for the Western Cape department of education Jessica Shelver said the department had increased security at some of identified high risk schools.

Phumla Sekhonyane of Gauteng education said 286 burglaries were recorded since the beginning of the 2015 academic year.

She said items stolen included ICT equipment, gardening tools, cleaning materials, feeding scheme food and cooking utensils.

Lesufi launched the paperless classrooms in January, with the initial roll-out of 6200 tablets.

The department has a budget of R12-million allocated to school safety.

It also has a budget of R108-million which is part of the Extended Public Works Programme and it is used to pay the stipends of patrollers deployed at schools.

"The MEC views all these acts of criminality in our schools in a very serious light and will in the near future convene a meeting with security firms in Gauteng to request them to patrol our schools as part of their corporate social responsibilities," said Sekhonyane.

Shelver said in Western Cape, where computer labs, school offices and bathrooms were broken into, "electronics are stolen and doors and gates damaged during forced entry".

"We still experience far too much vandalism, usually at our schools in poorer communities".

She said last year, the department spent over R10-million on emergency repairs.

Matakanye Matakanye of the National Association of School Governing Bodies said the association was on a nationwide campaign to urge parents to form committees to look after the schools. - Additional reporting by Benson Ntlemo