Patna: Students from Bihar and Jharkhand schools took to the canvas on Saturday to exhibit their thoughts on planet Earth and the girl child.

The Association of Schools for the Indian School Certificate's Bihar-Jharkhand chapter had organised a regional-level painting competition at the International School here. Participants were divided into two categories - junior, up to Class X and senior for classes XI and XII.

Among the themes for the on-spot competition were "Save planet" and "Girl child: blessing to mankind".

Students from St Paul's High School, Holy Family School and St Joseph's School (Bhagalpur zone), St Francis School (Deoghar zone), Carmel School (Dhanbad zone), Kerala Samajam Model and Carmel Junior College (Jamshedpur zone) added colour to their creativity.

Sayan Kumar Sarkar from St Francis School, Deoghar, won the first prize in the senior category followed by International School, Patna, student Mahima Shivam. The top two honours in the junior category went to Gaurav Kumar Jayswal from St Paul's High School, Patna, and Vaishnavi Bajaj from Kerela Samajan Model School, Jamshedpur.

Assistant professor of photography, College of Arts & Crafts, Mazhar Illahi and assistant professor of printing department Rakhi Kumari judged the entries.

International School principal and vice-president of the association's Bihar-Jharkhand region, Farhat Hasan said: "Every child is a gem and I want each of them to have absolute creativity. Different activities help them understand their own inner beauty. So, hosting such events help us unearth the students' hidden potential."

He added: "The winners qualified for the national competition to be held around October."

Elocution round

Notre Dame Academy held a Hindi elocution competition for its students on Saturday.

Students of classes VI and VII spoke on "dreams" and "environment" while Class IX students were given women power as their topic.