Findivoza

November 7, 2026

Findivoza

Pakistan

After Peshawar’s deadly school collapse, survey finds 4,049 schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa unsafe

Faizan Altaf

Two weeks after a school roof collapsed in Peshawar and killed 34 children and a teacher, Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has counted the scale of the danger still standing in its classrooms. A survey by the province’s own education department has found 4,049 government schools in a “dilapidated” condition, needing immediate reconstruction or repair.

The findings, first reported by the Pakistani daily Dawn and carried by the news agency IANS on 27 October, put a price on the repair work: Rs16.2 billion. The structures that need attention include 8,088 classrooms, 2,949 group latrines and 48 examination halls. The survey was ordered after the collapse at the Al-Khair Education Center in Peshawar’s Dir Colony on 15 October, and it has turned a single tragedy into a province-wide question about who checks the buildings where children spend their days.

A fresh report published on 30 October tied the school safety findings to a second warning about children’s welfare in Pakistan. On 19 October, the National Emergency Operations Centre for Polio Eradication confirmed the country’s seventh polio case of 2026, a six-month-old boy in Karachi. The two problems are different in kind — one is about bricks and concrete, the other about vaccination — but both point to the same conclusion: children in Pakistan remain exposed to risks that the state has the tools to prevent.

At a glance

What happened: A survey by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s education department found 4,049 government schools in dilapidated condition, needing Rs16.2 billion in repairs, after a school roof collapse in Peshawar on 15 October killed 34 children and a teacher.

Why it matters: Thousands of children are still attending classes in buildings the province itself has declared unsafe, and private schools across the province are only now being inspected.

What happens next: The province’s Elementary and Secondary Education Authority is inspecting private school buildings, the Peshawar High Court has demanded answers from the government, and the owner of the collapsed school is in custody while the investigation continues.

The survey: 4,049 schools, Rs16.2 billion to fix

The education department’s survey covered government schools across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and its results show that the problem is not confined to one district or one remote area. Peshawar itself, the provincial capital, has 454 schools needing rehabilitation. Swat has 488 schools identified as being in poor condition, and Mardan has 350 school buildings declared dilapidated.

The figures for other districts show a problem spread across the whole province: Haripur 332, Lower Dir 271, Abbottabad 245, Nowshera 202, Mansehra and Charsadda 174 each, Kohat 168, Malakand 162, Upper Dir 161, Swabi 160, Karak 132, Hangu 116, Lower Kohistan 110, Buner 71, Battagram 59, Kolai-Palas 47, Upper Chitral and Upper Kohistan 38 each, Lower Chitral 35, Shangla 33 and Torghar 30.

The department carried out the survey in government schools specifically because of the Dir Colony collapse. It has also directed the Elementary and Secondary Education Authority, known as ESEA, to inspect private school buildings across the province. An education department official said ESEA had inspected more than 6,000 of the 12,493 private schools registered with the Private Schools Regulatory Authority, and would need about another week to finish the rest. The Rs16.2 billion repair bill is an initial estimate, so the final figure could change as engineers look more closely at individual buildings.

What happened in Peshawar on 15 October

The collapse that prompted the survey happened on the morning of Thursday, 15 October, at the Al-Khair Education Center, a private school in the Dir Colony area of Peshawar. The roof over two classrooms gave way during lessons and fell through the floors below, where about 110 students were attending classes in three classrooms. Rescue teams searched the rubble for hours while parents waited outside for news of their children.

The final toll, reported by Channel 4 and in later accounts, was 34 children and one female teacher killed, with more than 50 people injured. Most of the children who died were aged 13 or below, and many of them were between six and 12 years old. Early reports on the day gave lower figures, as the death toll rose while rescue workers pulled more bodies from the debris. Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, where most of the injured were taken, said 53 children were brought to the hospital, of whom 33 died and 17 were discharged after observation.

Preliminary police assessments found that the building had structural weaknesses, and that the extra weight of construction above the classrooms may have contributed to the collapse. Mian Saeed, the Capital City Police Officer in Peshawar, told reporters that the roof had been poorly constructed and that the school stood in narrow streets, which made the rescue harder. The school’s owner was arrested, and families of the victims said concerns about the building’s safety had been raised before the collapse.

The disaster was the deadliest school building collapse in Pakistan’s history, but it was not the first time a school building had failed in the country. In June this year, more than a dozen children were killed when the roof collapsed at a tutoring centre in Lahore, and in September a dilapidated government school wall collapsed in Orangi Town, Karachi, killing five men.

The court steps in

On Wednesday, 21 October, the Peshawar High Court demanded explanations from the provincial government and relevant officials over the collapse. The court’s decision came after families of the victims and their legal representatives demanded a transparent investigation.

The court case has put a wider question in front of the province’s institutions: who is responsible for checking the condition of school buildings, and how well are safety rules actually enforced? A social worker quoted in a report by the Pressenza International News Agency said that access to education is a fundamental right, but that having a place in a classroom is not enough when the building itself may endanger students’ lives. She added that for families with limited money, affordable private schools may be among the few options available, but that this cannot justify lower safety standards.

A wider pattern: Karachi, Lahore and beyond

The Peshawar survey counts only government schools in one province, but the incidents that have drawn attention to school safety have happened in different parts of the country and in different kinds of buildings. The Orangi Town collapse in Karachi in September involved a government school wall. The Lahore collapse in June involved a private tutoring centre. The Peshawar collapse involved a private school in a crowded neighbourhood.

That spread matters, because it suggests the problem is not one bad building or one careless owner. It is a system in which buildings used by children are not routinely checked, and in which warnings, when they are given, do not always lead to action. Families of the Peshawar victims said concerns about the building had been raised before it fell. In Karachi, the school wall that collapsed belonged to a building already described as dilapidated.

Millions of children attend schools put up quickly, extended upwards without proper engineering, or left unrepaired for years. The survey’s answer — more than 4,000 unsafe schools in one province alone — raises an obvious question about what a similar count would find in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan.

The other warning: polio’s seventh case of 2026

The 30 October report that drew the school findings together also carried a second piece of news about children in Pakistan. On Monday, 19 October, the National Emergency Operations Centre for Polio Eradication said a six-month-old boy in Karachi had tested positive for wild poliovirus. It was Pakistan’s seventh polio case of 2026.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where wild poliovirus remains endemic, meaning the virus still spreads naturally rather than being brought in from elsewhere. Cases in Pakistan have fallen from around 20,000 in the early 1990s to seven so far in 2026, but the new case in Karachi shows that progress is not the same as eradication.

The two stories are not the same kind of crisis. One is about construction safety, oversight and possible negligence. The other is about public health and vaccination coverage. What connects them, as the Pressenza report noted, is the vulnerability of children.

A fresh reminder on 31 October: the Shangla jeep crash

The warnings about children’s safety in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa did not stop with the survey. On Friday, 31 October, a jeep carrying schoolchildren plunged into a deep ravine in Shangla district, in the same province, killing a third-grade pupil and injuring at least 16 other children.

The children were students of The Smart School, Bely Baba Campus, returning home to villages in the upper reaches of the district when the jeep went out of control on a sharp turn on a steep slope in the Pirabad Shalmano area of Alpuri tehsil. The vehicle skidded off the road, plunged into the ravine and overturned several times before coming to rest at the bottom.

The child who died was identified as Niaz Ali, a Class III student, who died at the scene. His brother Ali was also travelling in the jeep and was among the injured. According to Republic Policy, all of the injured children were first taken to the District Headquarters Hospital in Alpuri, and several were then referred to Saidu Sharif Teaching Hospital in Swat for specialist treatment, with some reported to be in critical condition.

The crash was an accident on the road, not a failure of a school building, and it should not be confused with the Peshawar collapse. But it shows how many different dangers children in the province’s mountainous districts face on an ordinary school day — from the classroom roof above them to the road that carries them home. Local reporting noted that it has renewed concerns about school transport safety in Shangla’s remote communities.

What happens next

The most immediate question is what the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government does with its own survey. The department has put a figure on the repair bill, Rs16.2 billion, and has identified which districts need the most work. But an estimate is not a budget, and a list of dilapidated schools is not a repair programme. Whether the money is allocated, and how quickly, will decide whether the survey becomes a turning point or another report that is filed away.

The inspection of private schools is the second test. ESEA had checked more than 6,000 of the 12,493 registered private schools when the survey results were reported, and said it needed about another week to finish. What matters is not just that the inspections are completed, but what happens to schools that fail them — whether they are closed, repaired, or allowed to carry on with warnings attached.

The third test is the court process. The Peshawar High Court has demanded explanations from the provincial government and the relevant officials, and the investigation into the Dir Colony collapse is continuing, with the school owner in custody. The families of the victims have asked for a transparent inquiry, and the outcome will show whether anyone is held accountable.

Frequently asked questions

How many schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were found to be unsafe?

The provincial education department’s survey found 4,049 government schools in a dilapidated condition, needing immediate reconstruction or rehabilitation. The structures needing work include 8,088 classrooms, 2,949 group latrines and 48 examination halls, and the estimated cost of the repairs is Rs16.2 billion.

What happened at the school in Peshawar?

On Thursday, 15 October 2026, the roof of the Al-Khair Education Center, a private school in the Dir Colony area of Peshawar, collapsed during morning classes. The roof fell through the floors below, where about 110 students were attending lessons in three classrooms. Later reports put the death toll at 34 children and one female teacher, with more than 50 people injured.

Which districts have the most unsafe schools?

Peshawar has 454 schools needing rehabilitation, while Swat has 488 schools identified as being in poor condition and Mardan has 350 declared dilapidated. Shangla, where the school jeep crashed on 31 October, has 33 schools needing rehabilitation.

Are private schools being checked as well?

Yes. The provincial government has directed the Elementary and Secondary Education Authority to inspect private school buildings across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The authority had inspected more than 6,000 of the 12,493 registered private schools when the survey results were reported, and said it would need about another week to complete the rest.

What is the Peshawar High Court doing about the collapse?

On Wednesday, 21 October, the Peshawar High Court demanded explanations from the provincial government and relevant officials over the collapse. The court’s intervention followed demands from the victims’ families and their legal representatives for a transparent investigation. The investigation into the cause of the collapse is still under way.

What does the new polio case have to do with school safety?

The two issues are different — one is about building safety and the other is about vaccination — but they were reported together on 30 October because both show the vulnerability of children in Pakistan. The polio case, a six-month-old boy in Karachi confirmed on 19 October, was the country’s seventh case of 2026. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries where wild poliovirus remains endemic.

Conclusion

The number at the centre of this story, 4,049, is the result of a survey that should never have been necessary. It took the deaths of 34 children and a teacher in Peshawar for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to count how many of its government schools are unsafe, and the count came back in the thousands. The repair bill, Rs16.2 billion, is large, but it is a known figure now, attached to a named list of districts and buildings. That is more than parents in the province had a month ago.

What happens now depends on whether the survey leads to money, inspections that have consequences, and accountability through the courts. The private school inspections still have about half the province’s registered schools to go, and the investigation into the Dir Colony collapse has not yet published its findings. The crash in Shangla on 31 October is a reminder that the risks children face do not wait for reports to be acted on.

For the families in Dir Colony, none of this will bring back the children who died on 15 October. The least that can be said for the survey is that it has made the scale of the danger impossible to ignore. The test now is whether the province acts on what its own officials have found, before another roof, wall or road claims more young lives.

This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.

Sources

Faizan Altaf

Faizan Altaf is the founder and author of findivoza.com, a news blog covering world, Pakistan, business, technology, health and sport in plain English. He writes for general readers who want clear, trustworthy news without jargon. His work focuses on explaining what happened, why it matters, and what to watch next.

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