These tablets will then be installed with additional security features and returned to the schools.
This comes after the recent series of burglaries that have taken place in schools, with people wanting to and in some cases stealing these tablets that the department has handed over.
Lesufi said he was deeply saddened and disappointed that communities were targeting schools when they have problems of service delivery which have nothing to do with education.
He said that when these people break into schools looking for tablets, they end up taking other things which disrupts the daily running of schools.
The department said since the distribution of the tablets, over 3 000 have been stolen and as a result this prompted the MEC to temporarily retrieve them for the installation of additional security features.