Peshawar School Tragedy: The Urgent need for School Safety

On October 15, 2026, an incident occurred at Al Khair Education Centre in the city of Dir Colony/Afridi Abad area in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. According to reports, the roof of the upper floor collapsed onto the area below the classroom, trapping students under it. Around 34 students have been killed, with more than 50 injured, some in critical condition. The emergency services were called at 8:48, after lessons had just begun. An English teacher near the school said he rushed to the site with others, and together they rescued around 20 children. He said, “I personally rescued six children with my own hands. Most of them were alive, but later it was found that they had passed away”. The school is on a narrow street, making it difficult for workers to reach the site and send injured people to hospital. The Police chief said the building was still dangerous and asked people to move away. The Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has ordered a safety audit for all schools in the province to identify potential risks and take safety measures to address them. The family members of deceased students were furious and accused the school of ignoring safety. Pakistan now does not need empty promises to address these cases. Whether it is the case of fourteen children being killed after the roof of a private tuition center collapsed in Lahore or, in August, the 14 newborn babies killed by a fire in the hospital in Islamabad. Schools and hospitals are the basic places used for children, so these cases have raised concern about safety measures. Who is really responsible for these incidents? Is it really the tragic devastating accident or a system that has failed to ensure the basic safety of it’s citizen. The owner of the school has been arrested, and investigations are going on, but will these investigations bring back those children who went to school with a dream to fulfil? Highlighting and addressing weak structures should happen before any incident occurs, not after lives are lost and safety measures are put in place.

• “Every child deserves the right to learn in a safe classroom. No Family should have to fear that sending a child to school could end in Tragedy”