QUETTA Pakistan (UCAN) -- Prince Naeem was overjoyed after his parish priest at the end of one Sunday Mass offered computer classes for the youth.

Students from the Church-run St. Eugene Computer Center in Quetta, Pakistan, pose for a photo on July 3.

"While other computer institutions charge 2,000 rupees (US$28) for the same course, the Catholic center is a good opportunity for those students who cannot afford these expenses," said 18-year-old Naeem, a parishioner of Holy Rosary Church in Quetta, 1,500 kilometers southwest of Islamabad.

Naeem and four other Catholics aged 16-18 study at St. Eugene Computer Center in the parish compound. They rate the daily two-hour evening classes there as better than wandering the streets or watching television at home.

Oblate Father Maqsood Nazeer said he started the computer center early this year after being in charge of the parish youth group for a year. "The youth group is comprised mostly of married Catholics. By opening the center I wanted to attract more youngsters instead of just organizing the occasional picnics," he explained when UCA News spoke with him recently.

Named after Saint Eugene de Mazenod, founder of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, the center offers three-month courses on how to use various programs such as the popular Microsoft Office and Inpage, an Urdu publishing software, for a monthly fee of 300 rupees. It has three computers.

"Our main purpose is to uplift and help Catholic youth. I am trying to teach them more than what they could get elsewhere for this price," Shehzad John, 23, a Catholic volunteer teacher at the center, told UCA News.

Now that he has learned how to use computer applications, Naeem wants to repay the favor. "I have asked Father Nazeer to employ me as a teacher for the next batch," he said. "I received this education almost free and I am willing to share it with others without charge."

According to Father Nazeer, lack of higher education is a major challenge for Christian youth in Quetta apostolic prefecture. "Most of them do not get an education after passing the 10th or 12th grade but try to get employment in army offices," he said. Without further education, "they end up as clerks or as sweepers," low-paid sanitation workers, he added.

Joshua James, 18, whose father is an electrician, acknowledges the parish initiative has given him a window of opportunity. "I have a deep interest in computers, and now I plan to become a software engineer and earn thousands per month," he told UCA News.

Quetta prefecture, is based in Quetta, capital of Balochistan province. Most Christians in this province, considered Pakistan's most underdeveloped, do menial work. They and Hindus form two miniscule communities in Balochistan, where Muslims form up to 98 percent of the people. The Pakistan Catholic Directory 2006 counts 28,716 Catholics in a population of 7.7 million in the prefecture's territory.

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