SAHIWAL: Six students of a private school were injured when the wall of an under-construction house of one of their teachers collapsed on them in Chak Munday Wala Khoh, Arifwala, Pakpattan, on Wednesday.

The students of Ghazali Public School were taken by their teacher to work as ‘labourers’ at his house during school hours.

Rescue 1122 transported the injured students from Basic Health Unit, Hota, to Arifwala Tehsil Headquarters Hospital for treatment.

The school is affiliated with the Punjab Education Foundation (PEF), and its managing director, Shahid Fareed, said the incident occurred due to the negligence of schoolteacher Muhammad Asif and headmaster Abdul Majeed.

They were working as ‘labourers’ at the house of their teacher

Mr Fareed said the school’s affiliation has been canceled, and all pending payments/arrears to the school have been forfeited.

PEF has sent Director Mazhar Abbas to Arifwala to evaluate the financial assistance needed for the medical treatment of the injured children.

Deputy Commissioner Maria Tariq visited the hospital to inquire after the health of the injured students and appointed the CEO of education to oversee the assistance.

On the other hand, Qabola police registered cases against teacher Asif and arrested headmaster Majeed. Asif fled the scene after the incident.

Earlier, Qaboola police registered a case under sections 324, 328, 337 H(1) of the PPC and sections 3 & 2 of The Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act-2018 against Asif and an unidentified person on a complaint by one of the injured children’s fathers, Muhammad Irshad, of Chah Mundaywala.

Reports state that Ghazali Public School has around 59 children enrolled, and teacher Asif forcefully took 7-8 children from the school to work on his under-construction house at 8am during school hours. At approximately 11:15am, the wall collapsed.

Villagers and neighbours rushed to the scene to rescue the children.

Residents Zulfiqar and Ali Raza reported that most of the children sustained severe injuries to their heads, ankles, arms, and chests.

The injured students include Muhammad Shahid (8), Muhammad Asif (12), Ali Husnain (9), Muhammad Zain (9), Muhammad Abid (8) and Allah Rakha (10).

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2025