The principal of Tanglin Secondary School has clarified that the students who posed for a photo with a broken road sign had found it lying on the grass patch.

The principal said that while it was wrong of the boys to pose with the broken road sign and post it on Instagram, they did not vandalise public property.

The photo was sent in by STOMPer Noah, who came across the photo of the three schoolboys posing with the sign.

Noah said in an email to STOMP:

"Vandalised and still proud of it.

"Outraged at how public property is treated with so little respect.

"These boys took a photo to show their 'achievement'."

In her response, the principal of Tanglin Secondary School said:

"I refer to the article 'Boys so proud of their 'achievement', they pose for pic with broken sign' posted on your website on 24th August 2012.

"We spoke to our students in the photograph and they clarified that they found the signage on the grass patch.

"They did not forcibly remove the signage from its original position. The article has made an unsubstantiated claim accusing the students in the photograph of vandalising public property.

"Our school takes a serious view on the conduct of our students and uses such incidents as teachable moments to reinforce the importance of being law-abiding and valuing public property.

"The school has counselled the students on the appropriate actions that they could have taken such as reporting the fallen signage to the relevant authorities."