A survey of government schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has found 4,049 school buildings in dilapidated condition, with preliminary estimates putting the cost of rebuilding and repairing them at Rs16.2 billion. The survey was ordered after the roof of a private school collapsed in the Dir Colony area of Peshawar on October 15, killing at least 31 children and two teachers and injuring more than 50 people, according to hospital figures reported by Dawn.

The Elementary and Secondary Education Department carried out the survey of government schools across the province in the weeks after the tragedy. Its findings show that the danger is not limited to private institutions. The buildings identified as needing reconstruction or rehabilitation include 8,088 classrooms, 2,949 group latrines and 48 examination halls.

The largest numbers of dilapidated school buildings are in Swat, with 488, followed by Peshawar with 454, Mardan with 350, Haripur with 332 and Lower Dir with 271. Abbottabad has 245 schools in need of repair, Charsadda 174, Kohat 168 and Upper Dir 161, according to the department's figures.

After the Dir Colony collapse, the Education Department issued a series of safety directives. On October 15, the Communication and Works Department was asked to form technical teams of expert engineers in every district to inspect roofs, walls, pillars, foundations and staircases, and to classify buildings as safe, requiring repair or potentially unsafe. On October 18, the department clarified that teaching in buildings declared unsafe must be suspended immediately and pupils moved to nearby safe schools or another suitable location, resuming only after repairs and a fitness certificate from the relevant technical body.

On November 1, all District Education Officers were instructed to move children studying in dangerous buildings, or in unsafe parts of them, to a safe place at once. Pupils may be shifted to safe sections of the same school, to nearby government schools or, if necessary, to rented buildings. Where only part of a building is dangerous, only that part is to be vacated and sealed.

In Peshawar, the district administration has begun inspecting government and private educational institutions with officials from the Education Department, Rescue 1122, the Communication and Works Department and the Private Schools Regulatory Authority. According to Deputy Commissioner Afaq Wazir, the administration is taking action against unsafe and illegally established institutions, and has so far declared 13 private school buildings dilapidated and dangerous, issuing notices to their managements to vacate them immediately and move pupils to safe buildings.

The matter has also reached the Peshawar High Court. In petitions filed by the Peshawar High Court Bar Association and lawyer Usman Alam, the petitioners have asked the court to order a transparent investigation into the tragedy, direct that the families of the children and the teacher who died receive compensation equal to the Shuhada package, and seek free treatment and financial assistance for injured pupils, along with a judicial commission to determine the causes and those responsible. The petitions also call for a comprehensive audit of school buildings and fire safety, a halt to teaching in unsafe buildings, and mandatory safety standards with a safe schools policy. A bench of Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Farah Jamshed issued notices to the provincial government and relevant authorities after a preliminary hearing on October 22 and sought their replies within two weeks.

The immediate safety measures are now in place, but the central question remains funding. Arranging the Rs16.2 billion needed to rebuild and repair the 4,049 dilapidated schools identified in the survey is still unresolved, and there is no published timetable for when permanent reconstruction will begin. Until then, the province is relying on inspections, closures and the relocation of children away from buildings declared dangerous.