PESHAWAR: A school teacher in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Swat region accidentally shot dead a 12-year-old pupil on Thursday while cleaning his pistol in the staff room, police said.

Teachers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province were given permission to carry firearms in the classroom after Taliban militants massacred more than 140 students at a school in the city of Peshawar in December.

Read: Militant siege of Peshawar school ends, 141 killed

Thursday's deadly incident happened on the outskirts of Swat's Mingora area, around 180 kilometres northeast of Peshawar.

“Majid Khan, a teacher at the private Sangota Model School was cleaning his pistol in the staff room when it fired a bullet by accident, hitting a student passing through the corridor,” local police official Fazl Rabi told AFP.

He said the student died on the spot.

Also read: Primary teachers in KP refuse to keep arms in school

Saleem Khan Marwat, the area police chief, confirmed the incident and said the teacher had been arrested.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province allowed teachers to carry guns — and began giving them firearms training — in January, saying it could not provide police guards for every school.

Take a look: Teachers get gun training after Peshawar massacre

The move was part of efforts to beef up school security after the Peshawar massacre, the deadliest terror attack in Pakistani history.

Heavily armed militants went from room to room at an army-linked school, eventually gunning down a total of 150 people.

But teachers' associations objected to arming staff, saying it was not their job to fight off militants.