Two groups of girl students belonging to different schools in Tiruppur clashed in the public at Ganapathypalayam on Wednesday evening in a bid to assert supremacy on a social media platform.
While one group of over 40 students belonged to the higher secondary school run by the Tiruppur Corporation, another group, almost equal in strength, belonged to the Government Higher Secondary School at Ganapathypalayam, located about 10 km away.
The students from the Corporation school had gone to Ganapathipalayam to confront their rival group members.
The photographs and videos they kept posting in their respective groups in a competitive mode had, over a period of time, instilled rivalry, police sources said.
The students, according to eye witnesses, had also foul-mouthed passers-by who had tried to intervene during the clash that had snowballed into a free-for-all fisticuffs, and even caused traffic blockade.
The police rushed on information and prevailed upon the two groups to exercise restraint. They were counselled and sent to their houses.
Education Department sources said the issue will be handled in a way that would not hamper the future of the students. Both the schools have called for meetings of parents, on Friday.