Zakat Fund gives Dh20m to education

The alms money will pay for the education of thousands of needy expatriate students, government officials said today.

ABU DHABI // Dh20 million will be poured this year into funds that will pay for the education of thousands of needy expatriate students, government officials said today. The funds will target both school and college students throughout the UAE. Details of the programmes were revealed yesterday by officials from the Zakat Fund, the government body that distributes the zakat alms tax, and the Abu Dhabi Education Council, which oversees schools in emirate. More than Dh2m was earmarked this morning for students in Al Ain as part of the "Iqra" (Read) programme. It is only a part of a larger drive that will provide more than Dh10m to 2,000 school students from Grade 1 to 12 in 2010.

The announcement also comes ahead of a new campaign to fund the college education of poor non-Emiratis that aims to spend another Dh10m on 50 students over four years. The money is taken from the annual contributions of zakat, an alms tax obligatory on all Muslims above a certain income threshold, which is distributed to needy members of society of all nationalities and religions. [e-mail]