A school wall collapsing, crushing students underneath is not a common incident in most parts of the world, yet in Pakistan news of such tragedies has become routine – almost like every other ghastly news in the country, which we skim over in the newspapers before we move on to the next columns.

Unless a colossal natural calamity hits, schools are not supposed to fall apart. In fact in other parts of the world, residents often seek shelter in school halls when natural disasters such as tornadoes and cyclones hit. School walls are supposed to be trusted – they are supposed to be built with the understanding that little children will one day be sitting inside the premises’ working towards an education.

Much has been said about the lack of education as a priority for the government of Pakistan but much hasn’t been done. In fact, barely anything has been done – these instances are as frequent today as they were 10 years ago. Pakistani children should not have to depend on foreign aid agencies to come and construct secure schools for them – be it in remote areas or elsewhere.

Innocent children dying in terrorist attacks on school buses is perhaps something which there is less control over but students dying during a lecture in a classroom? That is absurd and unacceptable. According to statistics from 2007, 52 per cent of government schools in the country had no boundary wall while 15 per cent were without a proper building.

The frequency with which school collapses are reported has been increasingly alarming. Where perhaps every sector in the country may be in shambles, healthcare and education are two areas one cannot afford negligence in. Instead of increasing the quantity of schools, perhaps first the government can improve the existing infrastructure by allocating more funds to develop better conditions of these school buildings.

A focus on quality construction is imperative. If investigations on school-wall collapses are even conducted, the results point towards poor quality material used in construction. Perhaps if more authorities were brought to book in this regard, people would stop playing with the lives of innocent children. If anyone in the education department could realise the importance of this situation, they should order school inspectors and principles to carry out a thorough survey of the state of their premises and based on the evaluation, should decide whether the environment is safe for children or not.

The 2008 school collapse of Manora was such a tragic incident as I remember looking at pictures of the bereaved parents and the accounts of the victims’ fellow classmates who recall “having snacks” when the wall fell and crushed four children. There had been promises made by the government and school authorities, vowing more responsibility and carefulness. But they came late as there had already been two girls killed in Kohat in 2002, one girl killed in Karachi in 2003, four girls in Muzaffargarh in 2007 and countless others in various parts of the country.

Those promises could neither prevent the deaths of two students who were killed in Attock last year and the five students who were killed yesterday in Shakargarh.

Perhaps next time the government or any other political party for that matter wants to do something for Pakistan’s education sector, they could think about renovation and quality construction of school buildings instead of introducing laptop schemes. Instead of stressing the “need for education” during assembly sessions, perhaps first the government could ensure this “education” won’t be the death of a family’s loved ones.

The writer is the Deputy Editor at Dawn.com