The Basic Education Department said it will let the law take its course.

There were cheers and whistles as pupils in their school uniform vandalised the clearly marked police vans, while the officers were trying to disperse an angry mob only metres away.

The windows were shattered with stones and the doors ripped off.

The Basic Education Department’s Panyaza Lesufi said the pupils should face the full might of the law.

“If they choose to be thugs not learners, they must be treated like thugs,” he said.

Two nyalas and a Casper had to be called in Tuesday after the school children boycotted class yet again.

They want textbooks for everyone, proper sanitation and the dismissal of their principal for alleged maladministration.

(Edited by Lindiwe Mlandu)