What tragedies reveal

Pakistan's response to tragedy has become painfully predictable. Whether it is floods, fires, transport accidents or collapsing buildings, the script rarely changes. There is grief, outrage and condemnation. Governments announce inquiry committees, suspend a few officials and promise compensation for victims' families. Public attention gradually fades until another preventable tragedy demands the same response.

The greater tragedy is that we rarely learn.

In June 2015, after an eight-year-old boy was killed when the wall of a government primary school collapsed in Tando Mohammad Khan, I wrote 'Crumbling Schools of Thought' in this newspaper. Nearly a decade later, after another series of roof collapses in Sindh's schools during the monsoon, I revisited the issue in 'Building Blues'. I had hoped those tragedies would provoke reforms serious enough to make another article unnecessary.

Instead, I find myself writing about the same issue once again.

This time, three girls lost their lives when the boundary wall of a government school collapsed in Umerkot as they walked past it. On the same day, fourteen students were killed when the roof of a private tuition centre collapsed in Lahore.

Different provinces. Different institutions. Yet the same lesson.

A wall does not collapse overnight. Neither does a roof. Long before concrete gives way, inspections are missed, maintenance is deferred, warning signs are ignored and responsibility becomes everyone's job – and therefore no one's. By the time a building collapses, the real failure has already occurred: the absence of preventive governance.

For years, Pakistan has debated why millions of children remain out of school. We blame poverty, child labour and parental attitudes. Those factors matter. But every collapsing classroom raises another question: what confidence has the state itself inspired? Parents do not first ask whether a school offers quality education. They first ask whether their children will return home safely. More than 26 million Pakistani children are already out of school. Those who still choose education as their path to a better future should not have to risk their lives simply by entering a classroom.

Only days before these tragedies, a government girls' school in Hyderabad earned global recognition by reaching the top 10 finalists in the World's Best School Prizes. That achievement deserves celebration. It reflects the commitment of dedicated teachers, students and the local community. But public policy is judged by systems, not exceptions. One outstanding school cannot represent nearly 40,000 public schools across Sindh. The real measure of success is whether every child enjoys a safe learning environment.

Good governance depends not only on policies but on people. Institutions perform when competent and principled professionals are entrusted with responsibility. When merit gradually yields to patronage, and adherence to rules becomes less valued than accommodating vested interests, governance quietly weakens. The consequences eventually appear as unsafe buildings and avoidable loss of life.

Sindh is currently constructing and rehabilitating thousands of schools with provincial resources and support from development partners. This is an opportunity that must not be wasted. Every new school - and every ageing one identified as vulnerable - should undergo independent structural safety audits before children occupy them.

Engineering alone, however, is not enough. Pakistan does not lack laws or inquiry committees. What it lacks is institutional learning. Every preventable tragedy should trigger mandatory safety reviews across the country so that lessons learned in one province are applied before another province repeats the same mistake. That is how preventive governance is built.

In 2015, I wrote 'Crumbling Schools of Thought'. In 2024, I wrote 'Building Blues'. In 2026, I should not have had to write this article at all.

A country that keeps repeating the same tragedies is not merely failing to maintain its schools. It is failing to learn from them.