VietNamNet Bridge – A group of 40 future bachelors of the Hanoi Banking Academy stood in “SEX” shape in front of Thang Long Royal Citadel relic to have pictures taken, which has raised a wave of public protest.

The 40 students of the Banking Academy, who are going to finish school in some months, believed that they were very “creative” when taking pictures for the yearbook.

The place they chose to take pictures was the old Thang Long Royal Citadel, which is believed a culture center of Hanoi, the thousands-of-year cultural capital city.

Shortly after appearing on some websites, the pictures have been sent to a lot of “netizens” and become the hottest topic on education forums.

A lot of people have expressed their anger about the behavior of the students. Nguyen Hoang Anh, 58, in Hanoi, said he cannot understand why the students, who have high education level, can make such ridiculous behavior.

Hoang Lan Phuong, 38, commented that the students made a fool of themselves when doing this.

“How could they dare to do this on such a place which has important historical land cultural significance, with the flag tower behind?” she questioned.

Violently criticizing the students, she said they must spend time to do penance about their actions. Especially, a lot of parents, in the emails to the editorial boards, proposed to impose heavy punishment on the students.

In reply, banking academy’s students said adults prove to be too stern when judging the students’ behavior.

A female student with nickname Kitty White wrote on a forum that standing in “SEX” shape was a creative idea, and that it would have been not interesting if the students had stood in line as usual.

Ngo Beu, a student, said he cannot understand why “the adults make such a fuss, if the students just made a play.” He also criticized journalists for keeping a “narrow minded viewpoint” when thinking ill of students.

However, Beu “said the same for everybody.” In fact, some journalists have agreed that this is not worth of condemns.

“I think that the behavior should be criticized only if it happens at a temple, for example. If so, this will go against the teachings of the Buddhism and become unacceptable,” Huyen Duong, a young reporter said.

“In this case, the behavior does not harm any cultural background,” she maintained. “This is just a historical relic like the other thousands of relics.”

When asked how will the school’s board of management punish the students for their behavior, Tran Duc Long from the Hanoi Banking Academy said no final decision about the discipline for the students.

“Only the board of management can make decision on the case. Meanwhile, the academy’s director is away on business and would return in one week,” he said.

Long has denied the information that the school would keep the students’ school degree pending for one year, which means that they would only get their degrees one year later than initially expected, in July 2014.

He said the proposed punishment is too heavy for the students, who just made “excesses”

Thanh Mai