LAHORE – Lahore was left in shock after roof of a tuition centre in Kahna collapsed, killing over dozen children and injuring several others. The tragedy sparked widespread grief and raised serious questions about building safety, with conflicting accounts emerging over the circumstances that led to the deadly incident.
Amid probe and outrage, contradictions emerged between the Punjab Education Minister’s statement and the Lahore Education Authority’s official inquiry report after the devastating roof collapse, raising fresh questions about the circumstances surrounding the tragedy.
Punjab Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat said the woman was teaching neighbourhood children at her home in an underprivileged area, while the Education Authority’s report narrates different picture, saying she was providing tuition only to her relatives’ children. The conflicting versions have surfaced as authorities continue investigating one of the deadliest incidents involving a home-based tuition centre in recent years.
Hayat said the tuition centre was operating from a private residence and was neither a registered school nor a formally established academy. “The teacher was teaching neighbourhood children in her home in a backward locality,” the minister said, adding that the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Education had reached the site immediately after the incident.
Calling the deaths an irreparable loss, the minister said the government stood with the bereaved families, stressing that no compensation could ever replace the precious lives lost. He also prayed for the swift recovery of the injured children. However, the inquiry report prepared by the Lahore Education Authority paints a different account.
The tuition centre was being run from a residential house and was not registered with any government department. It further states that the woman was tutoring her relatives’ children, contradicting the minister’s assertion that neighbourhood children were attending the classes.
The report also reveals that 25 to 30 children were present inside the house when the roof collapsed, turning the tuition session into a horrific tragedy. The inquiry report has been forwarded to the district administration for further action.
CEO Education Lahore Tariq Mahmood acknowledged a major regulatory gap, stating that there is no mechanism to register tuition centres operating from private homes, while privately run tuition centres fall outside the Education Department’s registration framework.
The revelation has sparked concerns over the lack of oversight of thousands of home-based tuition centres operating across Punjab, where no formal registration, inspection or safety compliance system currently exists.
14 Crushed to Death as Tuition Centre Roof Collapses in Lahore’s Kahna
