Peshawar school collapse: case filed against owners and contractor

Police in Peshawar have registered a case against the owners, shareholders and construction contractor of the private school whose roofs collapsed on Thursday, killing 30 children and a female teacher and injuring 52 people, according to the first information report (FIR).

The case was registered at Agha Mir Jani Shah police station on behalf of the state under Section 322 of the Pakistan Penal Code, which covers qatl-bis-sabab, or death caused without intent to kill, along with Sections 148 and 149, The Express Tribune and Geo News reported. Police said efforts were under way to arrest the suspects named. Earlier reports had put the death toll at 33.

What the FIR says

• Materials: substandard construction materials were used in the school building, which was dilapidated and unsuitable for use
• Ignored warnings: complaints had been made about the deteriorating walls and roofs, including by children, but the owners allegedly did nothing
• The collapse: the roof of a nursery classroom on the second floor and rooms on the ground floor came down during morning classes
• The land: the school stood on a 16-marla plot owned by Waheed and Javed, leased in 2024, after which the building was put up

The owner in custody

The school owner, Khan Muhammad, has been taken into custody over the alleged use of substandard materials, police said. In an earlier media talk, he reportedly blamed several days of rain for the collapse.

The three-storey Al-Khair school in Dir Colony had about 110 students enrolled, police said. Rescue teams worked for hours to pull victims from the rubble, hampered by the narrow streets of the densely populated neighbourhood, as distraught parents gathered outside.

Relatives of the victims have called for a thorough investigation into the tragedy, Geo News reported.

Province-wide safety checks

After the collapse, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government ordered a fact-finding inquiry and a structural safety audit of educational institutions across the province. The Elementary and Secondary Education Department also recommended a survey of government school buildings to classify them by safety risk.

A pattern of collapses

The tragedy has renewed concerns over the safety of school buildings in Pakistan:

• June 30, 2026: 14 children were killed when the roof of a private tuition centre collapsed in Lahore’s Kahna area
• May 2026: at least four children were killed and 20 people injured when a classroom roof fell at a private school in Dera Ghazi Khan during construction work
• September 2026: five people were killed when a wall of a dilapidated government school collapsed in Karachi’s Orangi Town, though the school was closed

The repeated incidents have raised questions about maintenance, construction standards and the enforcement of safety rules at schools, The Express Tribune noted.

Why it matters

Thirty children went to school and never came home. Families are demanding accountability, and the FIR says the warning signs were there. The province-wide audit must make sure no other classroom is left standing on weak walls. Read our report on the collapse itself.

This article draws on reporting by The Express Tribune and Geo News.