Families mourning children killed in a school roof collapse in Peshawar have called for justice and accountability, as authorities launch investigations and announce safety audits of educational institutions across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
“The parents of all these children must receive justice,” tailor Muhammad Wahab, whose 11-year-old nephew, Hammad, died in the incident, told AFP.
Appealing to the authorities, Wahab said Hammad had been performing well at school before the tragedy.
Dozens of people gathered outside the school on Friday to mourn the children killed in Thursday’s collapse, which officials attributed to deteriorating infrastructure.
One grieving father showed a photograph of his young daughter, dressed in red and gold, who died in the incident.
Another parent, Asadullah, said he had lost his son, a nephew and three other close relatives.
“The children were good students and often achieved top positions in their classes,” he told AFP. “They happily went to school every day.”
Residents and rescue workers described chaotic scenes following the collapse, as people rushed to pull children from beneath the rubble.
Sohail, whose niece escaped the building and informed her family about the collapse, said panic erupted as soon as the news spread.
“When I arrived at the scene, I saw around 10 to 15 children trapped beneath the rubble, with debris piled up to their necks. We quickly pulled them out,” he told AFP.
Following the incident, the provincial chief secretary constituted a fact-finding committee on Thursday and directed it to submit its report within seven days.
Building and roof collapses are a recurring concern in Pakistan, where incidents are often linked to inadequate safety standards and the use of substandard construction materials.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) described the incident as “not an accident but a preventable failure”. It also recalled a similar incident in Lahore in June that claimed the lives of 14 students.
Meanwhile, KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi said on Friday that those responsible for negligence in the school roof collapse would be held accountable.
Addressing a press conference, Kundi said legal action would be taken within 15 days and those found responsible would face punishment.
“Until they are punished, schools will open in houses every day. We are also going to audit government and private schools,” he said, adding that building audit reports for all private schools in the province would be submitted within four to five days.
He said officials had also been given 15 days to submit audit reports on government schools.
Kundi warned that auditors would also face punishment if another incident occurred after the inspections.
The governor announced compensation of Rs1 million for each bereaved family and Rs300,000 for every injured person. He also confirmed that the school owner had been arrested and said further action would be taken against others found involved in the incident.
“On one hand, we are fighting a war against terrorism; on the other hand, those who play with the lives of children do not deserve any concession,” Kundi said.
Separately, Samar Haroon Bilour, adviser to the KP governor on information and public relations, urged residents to share videos of schools in poor condition to help authorities identify potentially dangerous buildings.
In a televised message, Bilour said an inspection team had been sent to Gumbat village in Mardan after officials received a video showing a school in a dilapidated condition.
She said residents across KP had been sending photographs and videos of schools through WhatsApp, Facebook and X since the tragedy.
Bilour appealed to the public to cooperate with the inspection drive and share evidence of unsafe school buildings, adding that the Governor Advisory Council had set a four-day deadline for school inspections.
