Pakistan Orders School Inspections After Peshawar Roof Collapse Kills 34 Children and a Teacher

Pakistani authorities ordered inspections of private schools across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the roof of a classroom at Al-Khair Education Centre in Peshawar collapsed on Thursday morning, killing 34 children and a female teacher and injuring more than 45 others.

The collapse occurred at 8:48 a.m. local time in the Dir Colony neighborhood while classes were underway. Rescue official Bilal Faizi said the roof of an upper-floor classroom fell, causing ceilings on the floors below to cave in and trap students. Hospital officials at Lady Reading Hospital reported 32 children and one teacher dead; another facility reported one additional child fatality. Most of the dead were between six and 14 years old. More than 40 people were injured, some critically with head injuries.

Police arrested the school owner, Mohammad Khan. Peshawar Police Chief Mian Saeed said the building was structurally weak, constructed with steel girders, mud bricks, and in places wooden beams. Khan told officers that recent rains had further weakened the structure. Relatives of victims said they had previously warned of leaks and deteriorating walls. An FIR filed by police names the owners, shareholders, and the contractor, alleging use of substandard materials and ignored complaints.

Governor Faisal Karim Kundi ordered a province-wide safety audit of educational institutions. The provincial education department directed district committees to inspect roofs, walls, pillars, beams, foundations, and staircases of private schools and report within three days. Schools will be classified as safe, needing repairs, or potentially unsafe. President Asif Ali Zardari called the incident a heart-wrenching tragedy and requested a full investigation.

The school sat in a densely populated, low-income area of Peshawar. Nearly half of Pakistani students attend private schools, many of them in buildings that have not faced rigorous structural checks. The province has been under a state of emergency declared by the president over security concerns linked to militancy from Afghanistan, though the collapse itself is attributed to construction failure rather than external attack.

Rescue operations recovered all trapped individuals within hours. By Friday, all injured patients admitted to Lady Reading Hospital had been discharged. The building remains locked while investigators examine the site. The episode has placed renewed attention on the condition of private school infrastructure in a province where demand for affordable education continues to outpace regulatory capacity.