The C. P. R. Environmental Education Centre received the Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar for the year 1996 in September 2000. The award instituted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests is presented every year to individuals and organisations, who have contributed significantly towards environmental protection. The award includes a silver lotus trophy, a citation and a cash prize of Rupees One Lakh.
Using the cash award as corpus, the Board of Governors of the C.P.R. Environmental Education Centre decided to institute an annual C. P. R. Environmental Education Centre Award for Environmental Education. The annual award is given to a teacher, who has contributed to the field of environmental education, preferably from a rural area. The award consists of a silver plaque, a citation, as well as a cash prize.
The eighth award function was held on August 18, 2008. Dr. M.S.Swaminathan, Chairman, CPREEC, gave away the C. P. R. Environmental Education Centre Award for Environmental Education – 2008 to Ms. Shoba, Headmistress, Panchayat Union Primary School, Thalaikundha, Ooty, Nilgiris District, Tamilnadu.
Ms. Shoba has been actively involved in environmental education activities since 2005. She has planted several trees in and around her school campus. She actively involved her students in cleaning up the Pykara and Kamaraj Sagar tourist areas. She motivated her students to implement the anti-plastic campaign at Thalaikundha. Her school actively participated in the National Environmental Awareness Campaign of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. She has made her school practice waste management by recycling waste and composting, and has made it a plastic-free zone
Her school students have actively participated in rallies on noise pollution under the aegis of the Tamilnadu Pollution Control Board. Ms. Shoba has established a kitchen garden and herbal garden in her school. She works for energy conservation and has also put up several environmental messages.