Allahabad: Small towns such as Lakhimpur, Khiri, Sitapur, Bahraich, Gonda, Shravasti and Kushinagar, which generally attract quite low number of job-seekers, have now become the first choice for candidates who have successfully cleared the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET).

These cities are neglected by government in terms of development and other facilities still their present and future seems to be bright as there are large vacancies for teachers in government primary school.

Successful candidates are now seeking for the vacancies announced by the Directorate of Secondary Education in different districts across the state.

Avinash Pandey, an aspirant says the probability of appointment is high in cities where number of vacancies is more. Therefore, we decided to opt for these towns as our first choice instead of others like Allahabad and neighboring ones.

He further added that our foremost priority is to secure a job irrespective of the place of posting, hometown and other factors are less significant for us.

His analysis is right due to the fact that districts like Lakhimpur, Sitapur and Khiri has the highest number of vacancies i.e. 6,000 followed by Gonda with 4,000 and Shravasti, Kushinagar and Bahraich with 3,600 vacancies each.

There are only 12 vacancies in Allahabad, from where around one lakh candidates appeared in the test. Likewise, in plum cities such as Ghaziabad, Lucknow, Mathura and Meerut, mumber of vacancies are the same.

Prabha Tripathi, secretary, UP Board and co-ordinator TET exam said the charm of the exam lies in the fact that it opens a gateway to government job with a monthly salary of around Rs.21,000.

She further added that the selection in each district would be done according to the merit and securing minimum qualifying marks i.e. 60% do not guarantee a job.

A senior official and additional secretary, UP Board, Vinod Krishna informed that preliminary response of candidates who are filling up selection forms indicates that majority of them are preferring small towns for assured success.