Students of National Junior College (NJC) have been accused of defaming another school, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent), following 'incriminating' pictures which have surfaced online.

The photos, which were allegedly posted on Facebook by a teacher, show NJC students holding up hand-written posters, on which defamatory slogans such as calling ACS(I) "Annoying Childish Students (Idiots)", "killing the principal of ACS(I)" and other threats were written.

The students were allegedly engaged in an ice-breaker activity in which they were demonstrating "how dictatorial regimes" work.

A netizen, who was disturbed by the images, highlighted the issue to citizen journalism website, STOMP.

"How could the students of such a prestigious school have such outrageous thoughts and even suggesting and putting to paper such preposterous ideas?" he wrote, adding that he felt the photos were "extremely shocking, not to mention reflected badly on National Junior College, its students and teachers."

ACS(I): Explanation needed

When interviewed by reporters from Shin Min about the incident, the principal of ACS(I), Dr Ong Teck Chin, said he had immediately notified the principal of National Junior College once he knew about it, to seek an explanation.

He told reporters that he would be severely disappointed if the allegations were true.

NJC: We apologise for the misunderstanding

A spokesperson for NJC told reporters that the pictures were snapped during a class two years ago on societal systems, where students drew parallels to systems within the education setting.

He stated that the teacher had already chided students who had created the offensive posters, and the students themselves were remorseful.

He also apologised on behalf of the school, for any misunderstanding which had arisen due to the incident.  He added the investigations were underway to find out who posted the pictures online.

According to the Chinese daily, the schools were in talks to resolve the matter.