KP declares 4,049 government schools dilapidated after Peshawar collapse

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s education department has declared 4,049 government schools “dilapidated” and in need of immediate reconstruction and rehabilitation to protect students and teachers, Dawn reported on Tuesday, citing the department’s initial estimates. Rebuilding and repairing them would cost about Rs16.2 billion.

The survey and its scale

The department surveyed government schools through its district and tehsil offices after the collapse of a private school building in Peshawar’s Dir Colony, in which, according to Dawn, 31 students and a woman teacher were killed. The structures needing work include 8,088 classrooms, 2,949 group latrines and 48 examination halls, covering both boys’ and girls’ schools.

The government has also asked the Elementary and Secondary Education Authority (ESEA) to inspect private school buildings across the province. An education department official told Dawn that the authority had so far inspected more than 6,000 of the 12,493 private schools registered with the Private Schools Regulatory Authority, and that the exercise would take another week.

District by district

The figures vary widely by district. Dawn reported these among the larger cases:

• Swat: 488 schools, with 518 classrooms, 301 washrooms and five examination halls needing work, at about Rs1 billion.
• Mardan: 350 schools, 728 classrooms and 272 washrooms, at about Rs1 billion.
• Haripur: 332 schools, including 130 for girls, needing 811 classrooms, 336 washrooms and five examination halls rebuilt or repaired, at about Rs1 billion.
• Lower Dir: 271 schools, 689 classrooms and 128 washrooms, at about Rs1.48 billion.
• Abbottabad: 245 schools, including 130 for girls and 115 for boys, at Rs1.098 billion.
• Kohat: 168 schools needing 522 classrooms and 24 washrooms, at about Rs1.7 billion.
• Peshawar: 454 schools, with Nowshera at 202, Mansehra 174, Swabi 160 and Charsadda 174.

Smaller counts include 132 in Karak, 116 in Hangu, 71 in Buner, 59 in Battagram and 33 in Shangla.

What other reports show

The Express Tribune reported on Monday, citing a report on the condition of public-sector schools in the province, that 36,967 classrooms in KP’s 34,784 government schools are in a dilapidated state, of which 19,284 need reconstruction and 17,743 need repairs. The two sets of figures count different things and are not directly comparable.

The Tribune also quoted residents of Dir Colony who said they had repeatedly warned the school principal that the building was in poor condition. It said no records were available for 11,542 private schools in the province, and quoted a Private Schools Regulatory Authority official, Irshad Jadoon, who said more than 12,000 private schools operate in KP while the authority has a staff of only 45 people. He called for a sub-office of the authority in every district.

Read our earlier reports on the roof collapse at the private school, on the case against the school’s owners and contractor and on safety audits begun in Rawalpindi and KP after the collapse.

What we know and what we don’t

What we know: the number of schools, the estimated cost, the break-up by district and the progress of the inspection of private schools.

What we don’t know: when funds will be released, how the Rs16.2 billion will be found, in what order schools will be repaired, and what will happen to students in buildings that are closed. The Tribune said the education department has directed that teaching be suspended in dilapidated government schools, which raises the question of where those children will study.

Why it matters

For parents in the province, the numbers mean that thousands of classrooms in which their children sit every day have been officially declared unsafe. A bill of Rs16.2 billion is a large sum for a provincial government that is also dealing with an emergency and a security campaign, so the pace of repairs will show how seriously school safety is being taken. What to watch next: the results of the private-school inspections due within a week, any closure orders, and whether the provincial budget is revised to pay for rebuilding.

This article draws on reporting by Dawn and The Express Tribune.