Incidents of vandalism and burglaries dropped significantly during the 2009 Easter holiday compared to the same holiday last year.

Reasons include special measures taken by the Safe Schools division of the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) in partnership with other government departments and community organisations.

Schools reported 22 incidents last year, and eight so far for the 2009 Easter holiday.

Nariman Khan, Safe Schools Manager, said that the eight schools were not in areas identified as high risk. The most serious incident involved a burglary at De Kruine Secondary School hostel, Touws River, where thieves stole food and a computer.

Special measures this year included patrols in high risk areas, of individual schools as well as clusters of schools. The South African Police Services also patrolled schools at random in high risk areas.

Other interventions included holiday programmes at schools in the department's Metro South, Central and North districts in greater Cape Town and in the Eden Karoo district in the southern Cape.

Safe Schools organised the holiday programmes in conjunction with community organisations and other government departments.

Ms Khan said that other reasons for the drop in incidents included investment in school security systems and community support for schools in high risk areas.

The decline in the number of incidents reflects a similar trend during holidays at schools in the Western Cape over the past 18 months.