Vocational Education and Zakat: The Case Study of Punjab Vocational Training Council

• Main Author: Iqbal M. KHAN
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bülent Ecevit University 2014-08-01
• Series: Yükseköğretim ve Bilim Dergisi
• Subjects: Vocational training; Entrepreneurship education; Value based organization; Zakat education model
• Online Access: http://higheredu-sci.beun.edu.tr/pdf.php3?id=1644
• ISSN: 2146-5959; 2146-5967

The aim of this research is to explore the prospect of teaching Entrepreneurship Education to those who acquire vocational skills at Punjab Vocational Training Council (PVTC). It is also to explore whether PVTC has promoted entrepreneurship through its vocational training institutes located all over Punjab. This study also deals with the concept of utilization of ‘Zakat' for the purpose of vocational education as a mode for possible replication. The research objective has been to follow the progress of this institution. It has also been to record the successes of this model of a public-private ownership, a model of utilizing the ‘Zakat' to fund education projects, a value based organization, a learning organization and a highly innovative institution. The other objective is to explore the evidence of entrepreneurship education and its effectiveness in PVTC. Literature has been reviewed on vocational training and entrepreneurship education. It also reviews experience and evidence of such practice prevailing in other environment. Combined with this is the review and conceptualization of a model based on ‘zakat'. Research Methodology used is basically qualitative; data has been collected through semi structured intensive interviews and from focus groups of stakeholders. The strategies adopted to collect data in this study are “survey”, “case study” and “grounded theory.” The data collected from semi structured interviews were concluded by thematic analysis, analyzing technique of writing reports from data. NVivo software was utilized for triangulation to reduce the data bias and increase validity by comparing primary and secondary data. The findings of this research have been that the pedagogical skills offered by PVTC's are not effective for entrepreneurial potential development. Work is required for entrepreneurial curriculum development and training of PVTCs' instructors, students and practitioners. The research also reveals that Zakat Education Model can be further refined for the benefit of the education programs. The paper concludes that despite the efforts by PVTC to launch micro entrepreneurship ventures, it is a very weak effort. It needs to work on an effective pedagogy for training entrepreneurship and to upgrade its curriculum to strengthen both vocational skill program and entrepreneurship education.