ON the morning of 15 October, the children of Al-Khair Education Centre in Dir Colony, Peshawar, had barely begun their first lesson when the roof collapsed. At least twenty-nine people died by most official counts, nearly all of them pupils under fourteen, along with a teacher. Police said 110 students were in the three classrooms beneath the collapse; the school enrolled around 1,200. The building was three storeys and officials have stated that the roof was carrying construction its structure could not bear. The owner was arrested and a committee of inquiry formed. The province has responded with an inspection order covering private schools across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. That is necessary. It is also familiar. Fourteen children died this year in tuition-centre collapses in Lahore’s Kahna and Baghbanpura. Each tragedy produces a drive. None has yet produced a system that finds the next dangerous roof before it falls.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa already has a regulator. The Private Schools Regulatory Authority was established under an Act of 2017 to register, regulate and supervise private schools and its remit includes building safety. Schools pay it an annual renewal fee of Rs10,000. The inquiry should establish Al-Khair’s registration status, what safety documentation was required and whether its premises were ever assessed. Conclusions about individual responsibility must follow evidence and due process. Parents are nevertheless entitled to ask what a renewal verifies about the buildings........

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