# Fourteen Children Died After a Roof Collapsed at an Unregistered Tuition Centre
On June 30, 2026, the roof of a private tuition centre collapsed in Kahna, Lahore, Pakistan.
Fourteen children died. The victims were between five and 16 years old, with most under nine. Several other children and a female teacher were injured.
What emerged afterward made the deaths harder to dismiss as an unpredictable accident.
The Lahore Education Authority found that the tuition centre was operating inside a residential house and was not registered with any government authority. About 25 to 30 children were reportedly present when the roof collapsed.
Construction was taking place at the building at the same time.
According to the police FIR, the roof was already in poor condition when soil and other construction material were placed on it. A preliminary investigation later attributed the collapse to the weak structure and the additional weight of sand and bricks.
Police registered a criminal case under provisions relating to manslaughter and injury caused by negligent conduct. Property owners and a construction worker were named in the case, and police later said all suspects named in the investigation had been arrested.
There was also a warning before the disaster.
Punjab’s education minister later said an education officer had inspected the academy about 15 days earlier and asked for a building fitness certificate. The building extension had no required NOC, and the academy had not obtained the mandatory fitness certificate.
That fact deserves attention.
If a place where children study does not have proof that its building is safe, classes should not continue while construction is being carried out above them.
Children cannot inspect roofs.
They cannot calculate structural loads or check permits.
The adults who own, operate, build and regulate these places have to do that before children enter the room.
After the deaths, authorities moved against other unregistered tuition centres. On July 4, the Punjab education minister said about 760 unregistered academies in Lahore would have to register and obtain building fitness certificates and other approvals or be prevented from operating.
On July 17, Punjab also launched the **“Apni Chhat, Mehfooz Chhat”** programme in memory of the 14 children, offering interest-free loans to residents to strengthen unsafe roofs and homes.
Those are useful responses.
But they also leave an uncomfortable question:
Why did fourteen children have to die before these risks received this level of attention?
As of August 11, I have not found a later public court judgment establishing final criminal responsibility in this case. An arrest and an FIR are not a conviction, and the final legal responsibility should be determined through evidence and due process.
But the basic failure is already visible.
Children were studying in an unregistered tuition centre inside a residential building. Construction was underway. The academy lacked a building fitness certificate. The roof was described in the investigation as weak, and additional construction material had been placed above it.
Then it collapsed.
Fourteen children should not become only the reason for a new regulation or a government programme.
The public should eventually be able to see what happened to the criminal case, who was held responsible, whether the promised inspections were actually completed, and whether unsafe tuition centres were really closed or repaired.
That is a more useful memorial than another speech.
The children went there to study.
The adults around them had one basic responsibility:
**make sure the building did not fall on them.**