Students of a middle school in a mountainous area in north-central Vietnam have shown their creativity in a friendly rock painting competition held to raise funds to help their unprivileged peers, who come from ethnic families.

In early November, after the weekly ceremony held on Monday morning, students of Luu Kien Ethnic Middle School in the rural district of Tuong Duong, Nghe An Province, gathered in the schoolyard to start painting on rocks.

The competition at first started only as a fun activity for students, but acting schoolmaster Nguyen Thi Nhung later decided to make use of the rock paintings for a fundraising purpose.

The contest is held in the schoolyard. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Having had a chance to interact with students, Nhung is aware of many unprivileged cases in the school, including poverty-stricken families and orphans living with elderly grandparents.

Hence, the teacher, along with her colleagues, started promoting the students’ rock paintings on social media to see if anyone was interested enough to purchase the artworks.

“The money raised from selling the rock paintings enabled us to buy rice and instant noodles for families of 42 poor and orphaned students,” Nhung said excitedly.

The fund raised through selling the decorated rocks is spent on rice and instant noodles for 42 unprivileged students of the school. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Even though the proceeds are not significant, the teachers’ actions attracted many benefactors to the region who helped the poor students.

According to the schoolmaster, the activity was inspired by decorated rocks promoted on social media.

The teachers of Luu Kien Middle School were fond of the idea of letting students get creative, especially when the school is located near a stream, where there are a number of rocks whose surface is smooth enough to paint on.

The students were first taken to the stream bank, where they were instructed by their teachers as to how to choose rocks suitable for their art purposes.

Students then handpicked their ‘canvases’ carefully before washing them for use in the contest.

Students’ artwork. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Water colors and pens were provided by the school when the competition took place.

“This is the first time students have worked with water colors,” Nguyen Quoc Dung, the school’s art teacher said, indicating that the event was special for the students in many ways.

“Before this event, students only worked with pencils and crayons.”

Nhung said teachers at Luu Kien always tell students that it only takes a rock or a coal for them to become artists.

“We hope that drawing on rocks will give them more confidence to express their talent,” she added.

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