KP declares 4,049 school buildings dilapidated, puts repair bill at Rs16.2bn

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's elementary and secondary education department has declared 4,049 government schools across the province dilapidated and in need of immediate reconstruction and rehabilitation to ensure the safety of students and teachers, Dawn reported.

According to the department's initial estimates, Rs16.2 billion will be required to rebuild and repair the boys' and girls' schools it has classified as unsafe.

The survey was carried out through the department's own district- and tehsil-level formations. It followed the collapse of a private school building in Peshawar's Dir Colony, in which Dawn reported that 31 students and a woman were killed. The Express Tribune, reporting on the same incident, said the Peshawar school collapse exposed gaps in safety.

Dawn's report did not give a district-wise breakdown of the 4,049 buildings, set out the criteria used to classify a structure as dilapidated, or give a timeline for the reconstruction work. It also did not say when the survey was completed or when repairs are expected to begin.

It was not clear from the report whether the Rs16.2 billion has been allocated in the provincial budget, whether the work will be taken up in phases, or how many of the affected schools are currently in use.

The figure covers both boys' and girls' government schools and is described as an initial estimate, which suggests the number of buildings and the cost could change as the department works through the list.

The finding puts the condition of the province's government school stock under scrutiny after a building collapse that killed children at a private school in the provincial capital. It also sets out the scale of spending the education department says it needs to make its buildings safe, at a time when the provincial government's development spending is already stretched.

No education department official was quoted in the report, and the department has not issued a statement setting out which districts account for the largest share of the dilapidated buildings or how the reconstruction will be funded.