The Central Board of Secondary Education has taken steps to ensure that students appearing for the board exam in 2017 are allocated centres within 5km of their schools.

Earlier, the board had asked affiliated schools for details like number of classrooms, teachers and students, basic necessities of students, landmark and location, and the society the school runs in. "Affiliated schools must submit the report by November 30," said a board official. Rajeev Ranjan, a president of Patliputra Sahodaya (a group of CBSE schools in Bihar) and principal of Baldwin Academy, said based on the infrastructure report, the board decides if a school can or cannot conduct board exams. "This is being done so that students don't have to search for schools and then take the pain of reaching there," the board official said.

"The idea is to relieve students from travelling long distances to take exams without much ado," said K.K. Kunjachan, principal of St Karen's Secondary School.

Rashmi Gupta, a mother of two, said: "Two years back when my daughter appeared for her Class X exam, the centre was at Patliputra. It took one-and-a-half hours to reach there from Alam Ganj. We had to leave three hours early."

Rajesh Singh of Ashiana Colony, whose son studies in St Michael's High School, said it will minimise the pain of reaching the exam centre. "During the boards, the roads remain clogged in the morning and noon. My son will sit for his Class X board exam and I want him to be stress-free."

Saket Kumar, a Class XII student of St Dominic Savio's High School, faced lots of problems during Class X exams last year. "There are over 12 Kendriya Vidyalayas in Patna and around three on Bailey Road. It took us two hours to find the right centre."

But Anshuman, a Class X student of Loyola High School, said students should use Google Maps to easily find their exam centre.