KP declares over 4,000 government schools dilapidated

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa elementary and secondary education department has identified 4,049 government schools across the province as dilapidated and in need of immediate reconstruction and rehabilitation.

The department says the work is needed to ensure the safety of students and teachers. Its initial estimates put the cost of rebuilding and repairing the schools at Rs16.2 billion.

The structures declared unfit include 8,088 classrooms, 2,949 group latrines and 48 examination halls. ## Why the survey was carried out

The department surveyed government schools through its district and tehsil formations after a private school building collapsed in Peshawar’s Dir Colony. Students and a teacher were killed in that collapse, and the tragedy prompted a province-wide check of school buildings.

The government has also tasked the Elementary and Secondary Education Authority with inspecting 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. The inspection exercise is expected to take another week to complete.

Where the worst-affected districts are

The district breakdown shows the problem is spread across the province rather than confined to one region.

Swat has the highest number of affected schools, with 488 government schools declared to be in poor condition. Their 518 classrooms, 301 washrooms and five examination halls need rehabilitation at a cost of Rs1 billion.

Peshawar itself has 454 schools requiring rehabilitation. Mardan follows with 350 schools, whose 728 classrooms and 272 washrooms need work estimated at Rs1 billion. Haripur has 332 schools, with 811 classrooms, 336 washrooms and five examination halls needing rehabilitation at a cost of Rs1 billion.

Lower Dir has 271 schools declared dilapidated, with 689 classrooms, 128 washrooms and one examination hall to be repaired at an estimated cost of Rs1.48 billion. Kohat has 168 schools, but its repair bill is comparatively high at Rs1.7 billion for 522 classrooms and 24 washrooms.

Other districts in the survey include Nowshera with 202 schools, Mansehra with 174, Charsadda with 174, Swabi with 160, Malakand with 162, Upper Dir with 161, Karak with 132, Hangu with 116, Lower Kohistan with 110, Kolai-Palas with 47, Upper Chitral and Upper Kohistan with 38 each, Lower Chitral with 35, Shangla with 33 and Torghar with 30.

What the district figures show

The detailed figures reveal that the cost does not always rise with the number of schools. Kohat, with fewer schools than Swat or Mardan, carries a Rs1.7 billion estimate, while Swat’s larger list of schools is costed at Rs1 billion.

The difference lies in what needs to be rebuilt in each place. Some districts need whole classrooms reconstructed, while others need washrooms and examination halls repaired. Abbottabad, for example, has 245 schools, including 130 for girls and 115 for boys, requiring Rs1.098 billion for rehabilitation.

In Charsadda, 174 schools require rehabilitation at an estimated cost of Rs874.7 million, with 430 classrooms and 23 group latrines declared dilapidated. In Upper Dir, 161 schools, including 71 for girls and 90 for boys, require rehabilitation of 249 classrooms and 52 washrooms at a cost of Rs368 million.

In Hangu, 116 government schools are dilapidated, including 92 boys’ schools and 24 girls’ schools. Rehabilitating 468 classrooms, 10 washrooms and two examination halls is estimated to cost Rs438 million. In Karak, 132 schools have 327 classrooms and 83 washrooms requiring rehabilitation at a cost of Rs727 million. In Malakand, 162 schools need 368 classrooms and 80 washrooms rehabilitated at a cost of Rs690 million.

What happens next

Parents and teachers in the affected districts will want to know which schools will be repaired first. Schools with the worst structural damage, and those with the largest enrolments, would be the obvious priorities, but the department has not yet published a sequence for the work.

The private school inspection, due to finish within a week, will also matter. If it finds similar problems in the private sector, the province will face a wider question about how school buildings are approved, maintained and inspected in the first place.

The survey has turned a general worry about school safety, sharpened by the Dir Colony collapse, into a district-by-district record that can be checked, costed and followed up.

How many schools are affected?

How much will repairs cost?

Which district has the most affected schools?

• Dawn, “Over 4,000 govt school buildings declared ‘dilapidated’ in KP” (27 October 2026): https://www.dawn.com/news/2040048/over-4000-govt-school-buildings-declared-dilapidated-in-kp
• Feature Pakistan prior coverage of the Dir Colony school collapse in Peshawar, which prompted the province-wide survey (parent to link the live post at publish time).