Engage Your Students in Real-World Environmental Action
Custom Immersion Program for Your School
Our Environmental Immersion Program brings learning to life through hands-on, impactful experiences. Designed for school groups, the program can run from 1 day to 3 weeks and is tailored to fit your curriculum. Students explore biodiversity, climate change, citizen science, the circular economy, and sustainable agriculture in hands-on, impactful ways.
Learning in the Western Ghats
Take students beyond the classroom and into the heart of nature and community in Kodaikanal. They’ll embark on an unforgettable journey that builds environmental stewardship and leadership skills.
Specialized Skills to Make a Difference
Students build a strong foundation in environmental fieldwork. They develop hard skills such as species identification, ecological data collection, soil testing, and mapping natural resources. They also gain a working knowledge of farming and food systems. Most importantly, they learn how to design and implement actionable environmental plans—equipping them to apply these skills in their own communities.
Grounding Education in the World Around Us
Education can feel disconnected from the real world. Place-based learning allows students to link classroom concepts to the world around them by encouraging them to see, feel, and notice connections in their immediate surroundings.
Makes Complex Issues Real:
Students gain a practical understanding of topics like climate science, biology, statistics, and economics by interacting with, observing, and gathering data from their surroundings: businesses, farms, lakes and forests.
Creates Lasting Impact:
By observing and interacting directly with their surroundings, students witness firsthand the use-case of skills taught in school, and feel a deeper sense of responsibility for their communities.
Fosters Connection and Urgency:
Students leave with a heightened sense of belonging and pride, knowing they can make a difference.
What's Included
Starting at $90 USD per person per day, our all-inclusive program makes planning easy — with everything you need from start to finish.
- Accommodation and meals at Kodaikanal International School
- Field Trips to farms, forests, and nature reserves
- Learning modules and workshops tailored to your needs
- Experienced supervision with chaperones and instructors throughout the trip
What Schools and Students Gain from the CEH Experience
More than a field trip — CEH’s program leaves a lasting impact on students and schools,
building skills, connections, and a commitment to environmental stewardship.
Collaboration with Rosendals High School, Sweden
32 students and four teachers from Rosendalsgymnasiet visited Kodaikanal to study sustainable development, focusing on livelihoods through tourism and agriculture. CEH arranged the program, providing access to a wide range of local organizations, businesses, and individuals through their strong network and reputation.
Students appreciated the meaningful exchanges with KIS students and the community. The field study highlighted shared global challenges—such as climate change impacts, agricultural difficulties, and post-COVID tourism recovery—drawing parallels between life in Kodaikanal and Uppsala.
International Exchange Program with St. Clare’s, Oxford
KIS, through its CAS department and the Center for Environment and Humanity (CEH), runs an ongoing exchange program with St. Clare’s, Oxford. The program brings together IB students from different cultures to work on Creativity, Activity, and Service (CAS) projects.
During their time in Kodaikanal, students explored local environmental and social issues, including the impacts of tourism, challenges in waste management, and the region’s rich cultural and historical context. Field-based learning was enhanced by excursions to Palangi for river paddling, Poondi for forest walks, and Poombarai to visit a 3,000-year-old Hindu temple.
Immersed in South Indian daily life, students developed cross-cultural understanding and global awareness through shared experiences and collaboration.
Exploring the Hills: A Weekend with Blåkilde Efterskole
CEH hosted a weekend program for a group of students from Denmark who were based in Madurai. The visit offered a refreshing break in the hills and an opportunity for meaningful peer-to-peer interaction with KIS students. Highlights included a guided hike through the Kodaikanal landscape and informal exchanges between students from diverse backgrounds, fostering cross-cultural learning and connection.