SUKKUR: Twelve students of eighth grade suffered head injuries when a large piece of concrete plaster fell off the ceiling in their classroom in a government high school building in Basiro village, Khairpur district, on Friday.

A viral video clip, which was apparently made immediately after the incident, showed large brick-sized pieces of concrete strewn all over the desks in the classroom and students with blood-stained heads and faces being rescued and rushed to hospitals.

A teacher at the school said that there were a total of 56 boys and 24 girls in the room and a teacher was conducting the class when the plaster fell down. All the girl students remained safe as the plaster had collapsed in the boys’ portion, he said.

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He said that all teaching and non-teaching staff rushed to rescue the students and take the wounded to health facilities in Pacca Chang and Basiro villages. A large number of villagers, including parents of students, also joined the rescue and helped the teachers in shifting the victims to hospitals.

The injured were identified as Jawad Shaikh, Islamuddin, Shafiq Ahmad, Khalid, Faraz Ahmad, Ansar Balouch, Hassan Rajpar, Gulzar Tanwari, Zuhaib, Mubarak, Nawab Ali, and Nadeem, he said.

The teacher said that several officials of the education department had inspected the classroom since the incident took place.

Since a number of classrooms in the upper portion of the school building were undergoing reconstruction, they had to conduct classes in the lower portion of the school, which was also in bad need of repairs, he said.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2024