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The students were said to have had a tryst in a school toilet where other students filmed them.
The video was then circulated to several others in the college.
At least nine current and former ACJC students The Straits Times spoke to said they knew of the incident, with one having seen the video on his friend’s mobile phone.
‘What I saw disgusted me,’ said the second-year student, who said he could not bring himself to continue watching the rest of the clip.
In the ACJC episode, it is not clear whether or at what point the girls knew they were being filmed. The illicit meeting in a cubicle of the toilet near the canteen is said to have taken place last month.
It seems that disciplinary action has been taken on all those involved, including the stripping of some of their positions in co-curricular activities.
In an e-mail response to queries, ACJC principal Kelvyna Chan declined to comment directly on the facts of the episode.
She would say only: ‘We would like to assure you that no one has been expelled from the school. From time to time, students are involved in actions which the school does not condone.
‘With all matters pertaining to discipline, we include engagement with the parents and counseling for the students. The objective is always to learn from our mistakes, do better and be wiser.’
When asked later if ACJC helped the students secure places in another school, Mrs Chan declined further comment.
One of the girls had a Formspring site that was put up three weeks ago and she received queries and messages of support and concern.
Some told her to stay strong. Others wanted to know what she would do now.
‘Where are you going next?’ one asked.
She responded: ‘Where the wind takes us.’
Her site has since been taken down too.
One of them is said to have been admitted into another junior college and will resume her studies next year.
For Ms Wendy Chua, a former school psychologist who now runs a life coaching company, the latest ACJC incident shows how cavalier the young are about the Internet.
‘These days you often see kids freely expressing themselves on sites like Facebook with no regard to their own privacy. There is no self-censorship,’ said the mother of four children aged seven to 15.
‘If you don’t censor what you put online about yourself, you won’t censor what you post about others.
Psychologist Daniel Koh, of Insights Mind Centre, felt several aspects made the ACJC case especially disturbing.
First was the fact that the incident happened in a public place and involved two girls, ’something society may not accept yet’.
Then there were the actions of those who filmed what the girls did and then circulated it. Both were troubling acts, he said.
Agreeing, Dr Carol Balhetchet, director of Youth Services at the Singapore Children’s Society, said that filming and circulating the incident was ‘a vicious act’.
‘I would almost call it aggressive intimidation,’ she said.
The child experts felt that parents and counselors need to better educate the young on the consequences of their actions.
Mr. Koh said young people need to understand the power of the Internet.
‘Because of the speed, it can reach a lot of people,’ he said. ‘The young need to know what the boundaries are.
‘Even taking a picture of someone sleeping on the MRT can sometimes cross the line.’
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