LAHORE: The Punjab government will establish shelter homes for transpersons in the province.

The announcement was made by Minister for Social Welfare Syed Yawar Abbas Bukhari on Tuesday while speaking to the media at a ceremony held here on Tuesday at the Punjab University where a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by representatives of PU Department of De velopme nt Communication (DDC) and Social Welfare and Baitul Maal (SW&BM) department.

Under the MoU internship opportunities will be provided to the PU students in social welfare institutes in the province.

PU Vice Chancellor Prof Niaz Ahmad and DDC Chairperson Dr Ayesha Ashfaq were also present at the ceremony.

Addressing the ceremony, the minister said the department would provide training to the students for social welfare of the people, adding that merit and need-based scholarships would also be provided to them.

He said a gold medal would also be awarded to the topper of the DDC every year and workshops and training programmes would be sponsored to provide students job opportunities.

Mr Bukhari said the government was making efforts for skill and educa-tional development of transpersons and had the department had received funds to establish shelter homes for them.

He said the government hadensured atransparent mechanism for usage of public funds for the welfare of transpersons.

Prof Ahmad said the varsity administration was funding and encouraging research projects aimed at resolving social issues of the country. The university would provide research support to SW&BM department and help design communication strategies.

SW&BM Secretary Hassan Iqbal said the department would develop a system to get appropriate feedback af ter completion of joint projects for further improvemernt.

Ms Ashfaq said the teachers would help the Social Welfare Training Institute in capacity building in terms of effective communication, language and literacy and developing effective media campaigns.

She said as many as 20 DDC volunteers would actively participate in the community activities.

Later, the PU VC presented souvenirs to the distinguished guests.

Meanwhile, PU Registration Branch has extended the date of submission of registration forms for the private candidates of Associate Degree Commerce Part-I annual examination 2021 with double fee till Oct 6.