The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed strong dissatisfaction over the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government’s failure to reconstruct schools damaged during the 2005 earthquake, questioning why rehabilitation work remained incomplete even after two decades.
A five-member larger bench headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan took up the “suo motu” case concerning the dilapidated condition of government schools across the province. The bench also comprised Justices Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Hasan Azhar Rizvi and others.
The suo motu notice was initiated after reports revealed that hundreds of school buildings in quake-hit districts such as Mansehra, Battagram and Kohistan remain incomplete, many still functioning in temporary shelters or tents. Despite budget allocations under multiple reconstruction programs since 2005, progress has remained painfully slow.
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Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi noted that reconstruction had been stalled for years, pointing out that 107 school units in Mansehra and 11 in Kohistan were still incomplete. “It’s been 20 years since the 2005 earthquake,” he observed. “We’re sitting here in 2025 — how much more time do you need”?
“Implementation on the Supreme Court’s directions is underway,” the Additional Secretary for Education told the bench while seeking another extension, citing logistical delays and harsh weather conditions. “Snowfall during winter affects construction work,” the K-P government’s counsel added.
Justice Mandokhail, visibly irked by the explanation, remarked, “Even after the 2005 earthquake, the schools have not been completed. Constructing new schools is important, but repairing the old ones is equally necessary”.
The bench’s remarks underscored a larger and long-standing issue which is that the chronic neglect of the province’s public education infrastructure.
According to a 2021 report by The Express Tribune based on data from the K-P Planning and Development Department, nearly 16,000 government schools were in urgent need of attention. Around 3,300 lacked boundary walls, 4,272 had no access to clean drinking water, 5,456 were without electricity, and 2,836 had no toilets, including over 800 girls’ schools.
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Education experts warned that such conditions were discouraging enrolment and contributing to the province’s estimated 3.8 million out-of-school children — among the highest in the country.
The Additional Secretary again pleaded for three more months to complete ongoing projects, but the bench reminded the provincial government that similar extensions had been granted multiple times before.
“We gave you time upon your own request — now show us progress,” Justice Aminuddin Khan remarked, warning that continued negligence would no longer be tolerated. “Our job is not to construct schools but to review the implementation process,” he clarified.
Justice Mandokhail added, “We are only saying that you must fulfil your responsibility”.
Local communities in the quake-affected belt say the delay has exacted a heavy toll. In districts like Balakot, where the 2005 quake flattened entire towns, students still attend classes in makeshift shelters or under the open sky. Parents say they have grown weary of promises that never translate into classrooms.
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During the hearing, the court granted the K-P Education Department an additional six months to comply with its earlier directives after the provincial government again sought more time to complete pending reconstruction work. The court ordered the submission of a comprehensive progress report within this period, detailing timelines for the completion of all remaining school projects.
The bench noted that the case would be taken up again once the compliance report is submitted — a reminder that two decades after one of Pakistan’s deadliest natural disasters, K-P’s children are still waiting for the promise of safe education to be fulfilled.
