Is it permissible to pay zakat funds to support the dilapidated student housing for male and female students at the College of Quran in India, which suffers from a severe lack of funds and support, and has no endowments or funding bodies?

Spending on building or maintaining housing for students of knowledge carries immense reward. However, Zakat (definition) has specific, divinely ordained recipients, and it is not permissible to spend it on building or maintaining student housing. Nevertheless, it is permissible to give Zakat to poor and needy students themselves, and they are then free to dispose of it as they wish, whether by spending it on repairing their housing or purchasing what they need for it.