If you’re in high school and want your summer to count for something, volunteering in India is within reach. You can join our programs from 17 with a consent form signed by a parent, and most of them are open to you. A few start at 18, so it helps to know which is which before you choose.
Here are the programs high school students can join, what each one involves, and what to sort out before you go.
1. Street children, Delhi
Shelter homes and non-formal education centers in Delhi look after children from the city’s slums and streets and help them catch up on school. You spend your weekdays with them, helping with simple lessons in English and numbers, running games, art and sport, and encouraging everyday habits like hand-washing. You don’t need experience; energy and imagination matter more.
2. Two-week mini break, Delhi and Agra
A good fit if you only have two weeks. The itinerary is fixed: eight days with children at shelter homes and day-care centers, a guided tour of Delhi’s monuments, a free day of your own and a Taj Mahal day trip.
3. Childcare and elephant rescue
Fifteen days across Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. After a week with children at projects in Delhi and a visit to the Taj Mahal, you spend three days at an elephant rescue center near Agra, preparing food, making enrichment, working in the grounds and walking with the elephants and their keepers. The trip ends with sightseeing in Jaipur. Volunteers don’t ride, bathe or hug the elephants, and none of the elephants perform.
4. Women’s empowerment, Delhi
Local NGOs run community centers in Delhi’s urban slums where women and girls study spoken English, literacy and computing and learn trades like tailoring and beauty work. Most volunteers spend their time on English conversation with young women aged about 17 to 20, so you could be teaching people your own age. If you sew or know your way around a computer, you can help with those classes too.
5. Women and girls, Jaipur
At a women’s center in a Jaipur slum community, teenage girls (12 to 17) come for English conversation, and women for health and hygiene talks, literacy and stitching. You help with both. Sessions run in the afternoons, from about 1pm to 6pm, leaving your mornings free to explore the Pink City.
6. Slum schools, Jaipur
A small grassroots project teaches children in Jaipur’s slum communities free of charge. You co-teach small groups in English, math, computer basics or sport, and can run art or dance workshops. Sessions are usually from 2pm to 5pm, moving to the morning in the hottest months.
7. Construction and renovation, Jaipur
Prefer working with your hands? Help repair, paint and decorate schools, community centers and clinics that have no budget for the work. Expect four to five hours a day of supervised work, and the satisfaction of seeing a bare classroom brightened by a mural you helped paint. No building experience is needed.
8. Hindi and culture week, Delhi
A week of Hindi classes, culture talks, Delhi sightseeing, temple visits and a Taj Mahal day trip. There’s no project work, so it’s an easy introduction to India, on its own or as a start before a Delhi placement.
Programs that start at 18
If you’ll be 18 by your start date, you can also join special needs care in Delhi and teaching or childcare in Jaipur. The medical internship is 18+ too, and only for students of medicine, nursing, dentistry or physiotherapy and pre-med students, so it’s one to keep in mind for later. Our guide to programs for college students covers these in more detail.
Volunteering in your summer break
Every program runs through the summer months. Expect heat: Delhi and Jaipur can pass 40°C before the monsoon arrives, usually in July. Projects carry on regardless, and the slum schools in Jaipur move their classes to the morning in the hottest months. Our summer volunteering page lists start dates and tips for the heat.
Before you go
- A consent form signed by a parent, since you are under 18.
- A clean criminal background check, issued within 12 months of your start date. Every program above needs one except the Hindi and culture week.
- Travel and medical insurance for your whole stay, which is compulsory.
- A passport valid for at least six months after you return, with two blank pages, and an Indian visa. Most volunteers use the e-Visa.
Programs start from $495 for one week. Our dates and prices page has the full costs and start dates.
For advice on safety, support and talking it over with your parents, read our guide to volunteering as a teenager in India. Questions? Email info@volunteeringindia.com and we’ll help you choose.