Teachers recall the ‘old and bold’ pranks

dubai — There are light pranks that faculty members have a laugh over. Then, there are the remote few that can get students into a lot of trouble.

Dubai student Angelica Smith (name changed), shared an old senior prank from her school that went horribly wrong. Six of her peers were expelled a day before their graduation due to their vile senior prank. “They broke into school after-hours and spray painted the walls; then, in the old VP’s office, they spread their own faeces over the walls and her desk,” she said.

A similar prank had been carried out in another Dubai school a couple of years ago, where the four students were nearly arrested for breaking into school, urinating on their principal’s jacket and filling the gymnasium with fire hydrant foam. Besides the few extreme pranks, there are many others that teachers call memorable. Rory Galvin, head of secondary at the Uptown School, remembers a few pranks students at his former school had pulled.

“Being a relatively new section of the school, the idea of a senior prank has not yet taken off at Uptown; however, I have experienced senior pranks in some of my other postings,” he said.

“The old reliables like hiding alarm clocks in the ceilings and air conditioners and having them go off at intervals throughout the day are always good fun.

“The principal at this school I worked at came in one morning to find his whole office wrapped in cling film, from the doorway, to his computer, office furniture, the works. One of my favourites is from a school in the US where the seniors hired a Mexican mariachi band to follow the principal around all day. A lot of thinking went into that one.”

sarwat@khaleejtimes.com