Students facing difficulties in getting admission in VTIs

Rawalpindi : A large number of students (males and females) belong to poor families are facing difficulties in getting admission in Punjab government run vocational training institutes (VTIs) due to ending of tenure of Zakat committees members or chairmen.

The VTIs students have also complained about non-payment of the stipend which was announced by the Punjab government for them.

Even serious ‘Zakat’ patients are also deprived of medicines from different public hospitals due to absence of ‘Zakat’ members or chairman.

The VTIs are being run by Zakat funds, and it is a must for every applicant to get his/her admission form attested from a Zakat committee member or chairman of his/her Union Council otherwise they are not eligible for admissions.

The VTIs offer different courses for male and females, like computer training, stitching, make-up and dress designing courses of three to six months duration for which they are paid a stipend of Rs1,000 per month by the Punjab government. The VTIs have announced June 12, 2018, the date of test for admission in such courses. But still a large number of students are searching Zakat committees member or chairman to get their admission forms approved.

District Officer (DO) Zakat Moeez Ahmed Malik told ‘The News’ that he was in Lahore to inform higher authorities about the situation. The tenure of majority of members had expired while majority of new members have taken their charge. They should attest admission forms of students at any cost otherwise strict action will be taken, he warned.

He also admitted that majority of students are not paid their monthly stipend due to absence of funds. As Punjab government released funds we will pay all stipends of students, he hoped.

The officials of District Office Zakat on anonymity have raised concerns over the procedure adopted for the transfer of funds. According to information, there are over 1,100 zakat committees here in Rawalpindi district. But, offices of Zakat committees are without members. There are eight VTIs in Rawalpindi where thousands of poor students studying on Zakat fund.