Over 1,800 job applicants sat an electronic test on Sunday in the hope of securing one of 186 vacancies at the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Authority.

The authority received about 20,000 applications for the vacancies and selected 1,818 people for the test. Those who score the highest marks will be employed by the authority, officials said.

“Within the next few days, we will announce 392 teacher vacancies,” said Ghulam Haidar Shahamat, acting head of Technical and Vocational Education and Training Authority. “The main goal is transparency, justice and expertise.”

Officials from the prime minister’s office of administrative affairs said that currently all government institutions want to recruit experts and professionals, and for that, tests will be held electronically.

“The leadership of every institution is interested in their professional and technical positions being filled through the process of free competition, that the work is entrusted to qualified people, and that justice is ensured. When the work is entrusted to qualified people, the institution develops and the system advances,” said Saif al-Din Tayeb, deputy head of the PM’s office of administrative affairs for supervision and policy.

Mohammad Nazari, one of the participants of the test, said that after finishing his higher education, he has not been able to get a job so far.

“I remain unemployed for the past year. We ask the government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan to do their best for the youth. They should hold exams so that youths can work in their field of expertise,” Nazari said.