Pakistan Mandates Emergency Inspection of All Private Schools After Peshawar Tragedy

PESHAWAR: Pakistani authorities have ordered inspections of every private school in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province following the collapse of a school roof that killed 34 children and a teacher. Relatives of the victims said they had previously reported structural weaknesses at the Al‑Khair school.

The provincial government announced an investigation into Thursday’s disaster, as families demanded justice. At least one family member said he had warned the school owner about persistent water leaks that had damaged the building.

Police arrested the school’s owner, Mohammad Khan. Peshawar Police Chief Saeed Ahmed said the building was structurally unsound, and Khan told officers that recent rains had weakened one of the roofs.

The government order, viewed by The Associated Press, directs the provincial education department to form district‑level committees to inspect private schools across the province. The committees must submit findings and recommendations within three days. Inspections will cover both owned and rented premises and will focus on roofs, ceilings, walls, columns, beams, foundations and staircases. Districts are required to conduct urgent technical assessments and classify each school as safe, needing repairs, or potentially unsafe.

Emergency crews arrived within five minutes of the alert. All those trapped were rescued, and at least 40 children were pulled alive from the rubble, said Bilal Faizi, a spokesman for emergency services in Peshawar.

The collapsed roof was a traditional mud‑and‑brick structure. Some children died from suffocation, Faizi added.

Injured teacher Mahwish Zaman, speaking from a hospital bed, said the collapse was sudden and left no time to escape. She was in her classroom when a loud crash echoed from the floor above; before she could warn the pupils, the ceiling fell.

Zaman described being unconscious when she was taken to the hospital and later learning that many of her students had died.

Community members visited the victims’ families, many of whom live in Peshawar’s Dir Colony neighbourhood where the school is located.

Mohammad Zaman, whose two nephews died, said he and other relatives had repeatedly complained to the school owner about rainwater leaking into classrooms and warned that the building’s condition could lead to tragedy. His nephews were Abdul, 9, in second grade, and Abuzar, 10, in third grade. Abuzar’s sister, Samiya, a nursery student, survived because she had stepped outside for sweets.

Zakir Ullah lost both his sons, Abu Bakr and Mohammad, who were in the same classroom. His daughter, in a different class, ran home after the collapse and told the family that the school had fallen. They returned with her and found the boys’ classroom buried under rubble.

Ullah, describing the building as weak, said nothing was visible beneath the debris and called for punishment of any officials who approved its use as a school. “How could I have known this would take both my sons from me?” he asked.

Source link