Islamabad, Oct 30 (IANS) Pakistan reported its seventh case of polio virus in 2026 on October 19. Just four days before, 34 children and one female teacher died after a school building collapsed in Pakistan's Peshawar. The two cases are different: one is related to public health, vaccination coverage and the difficulties in eradicating a virus, while the second raises questions over construction safety, oversight and possible negligence. However, both developments expose the vulnerability of children in Pakistan, a report has detailed.

As many as 34 school children and one female teacher were killed, while dozens of students were injured after the roof of a private education centre in Peshawar collapsed during classes on October 15. Rescue teams searched for survivors beneath the debris for hours while parents desperately awaited news about their children. The majority of the children who died were aged 13 years and below, according to the report in Pressenza International News Agency.

Preliminary police assessments has revealed that the building had structural weaknesses, while the additional weight of construction above the classrooms may have contributed to the collapse. The authorities arrested the owner of the school while the investigation was launched to find the cause of the incident. Families of the victims said that concerns were raised about the safety of the buildings previously.

On October 21, the Peshawar High Court demanded explanations from the provincial government and relevant officials over the collapse of a school building. The court's decision came after families of the victims and legal representatives demanded a transparent probe and investigation, according to the report.

"The intervention of the Peshawar High Court brought a wider institutional question into focus: who oversees the conditions under which educational facilities operate, and how effectively are safety regulations enforced? Access to education is a fundamental right. But having a place in a classroom is not enough when the building itself may endanger students’ lives. For families with limited financial resources, affordable private schools may be among the few available educational options. That social necessity, however, cannot justify lower safety standards," Chrysoula Asteriadou, a social worker, mentioned in a report in Pressenza International News Agency.

Days after the school building collapse incident in Peshawar, the National Emergency Operations Centre for Polio Eradication on October 19 said that a six-month-old boy in Karachi had tested positive for wild poliovirus. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where wild poliovirus remains endemic.

Over the years, Pakistan has been vaccinating children to eradicate the poliovirus from the country. From around 20,000 polio cases in the early 1990s, the cases have dropped to seven in Pakistan as of October 19, 2026. Nevertheless, the new case in Karachi demonstrates that progress does not imply eradication of the disease.

"A collapsing school and a new polio case are not the same kind of crisis. The first raises questions about construction safety, oversight and possible negligence. The second concerns public health, vaccination coverage and the difficulties of eradicating a virus. What connects them is the vulnerability of children," Chrysoula Asteriadou mentioned in a report in Pressenza International News Agency.

Meanwhile, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa elementary and secondary education department's initial estimates have revealed that 4,049 government schools in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province have been declared in 'dilapidated' condition and require immediate reconstruction and rehabilitation to ensure the safety of students and teachers, local media reported.

A total of Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 16.2 billion will be needed to reconstruct and repair these schools, according to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa elementary and secondary education department's initial estimates. According to a report in leading Pakistani daily 'Dawn', the department said that the structures which need reconstruction and rehabilitation include 8,088 classrooms, 2,949 group latrines and 48 examination halls.

The department conducted a survey in government schools after a private school building collapsed in Dir Colony of Peshawar earlier this month. The government has also directed the Elementary and Secondary Education Authority (ESEA) to conduct inspections in private school buildings in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

--IANS

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