WATCH: SA principal’s viral April Fools' prank on Grade 12s
This principal pulled the ultimate April Fools’ prank on his matrics.
April Fools’ Day – the one day of the year when you can’t trust anything you read, hear, or see.
It’s been two days since the chaos, and yet, some pranks were so well-executed they’re still haunting people.
Tabasco teased a body lotion guaranteed to set your skin ablaze, Krispy Kreme “discontinued” its beloved cheesecake donut (cue mass hysteria), and East Coast Breakfast had KZNers believing the iconic bunny chow was getting a name change. The horror!
Although one prank took the cake (or rather, the matric certificate) as the best in the country, and if you’ve survived high school, you’ll understand why.
The principal at Sunward Christian Academy in Boksburg decided to test his matric students’ heart rates by hitting them with the worst news imaginable.
You remember that old rumour about the Department of Education introducing Grade 13? Well, this principal ran with it – hard.
He went as far as printing official-looking IEB letters, confirming that from 2026, matrics would have to complete an extra year before receiving their final certificate.
One by one, he called the students into his office and delivered the devastating “news”.
“You can stop at Grade 12, but then you don’t have matric,” he explained, straight-faced. “Finishing Grade 12 now is like dropping out in Grade 11.”
That’s when the panic set in.
The reactions were pure gold. Some students sat there in stunned silence, others frantically tried to process the extended nightmare that was high school.
Just when they thought they were on the home stretch, the finish line got pushed an entire year further.
Thankfully, the truth came out before any full-scale meltdowns ensued.
The whole prank was posted on the school’s Instagram and has racked up nearly half a million views, with comments still rolling in from amused (and deeply relieved) South Africans.
Check out the iconic prank below:
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