BICOM

Israel’s President Shimon Peres helped set a new world record yesterday by delivering the world’s largest ever online civics class to more than 9,000 Israeli high-school students in 215 classrooms across the country.

The previous record stood at 5,000 participants and because of the magnitude of the operation, Peres travelled to Cisco’s Israel headquarters in Netanya to teach the class. Two days earlier, Peres had presented Cisco with a special export prize. Israel is the first country outside of the United States in which Cisco has established a research and development centre.

Among those who participated yesterday were Jewish and Arab students including teenagers from the Bedouin and Christian communities. Some were able to ask questions to President Peres during the class, during which he urged students “Don’t stop learning, don’t stop dreaming.”

The senior vice president of Guinness World Records, Marco Frigatti travelled to Netanya to verify the record attempt. Having approved the new world record, he pointed out that it is Peres’ second world record, as he is also the world’s oldest head of state.

Explaining the appeal of the record attempt, Frigatti said, “We immediately liked this new record idea …  because talking about civics and talking about democracy is relevant for everybody in the world and the contribution we make is so important a topic for the young generation.” He also said that part of the attraction was Peres, “a person who has seen the country from its origins to today and who better to speak to the students.” Frigatti added that the world record attempt was also exciting due to “the technology, a web-based solution that can be used within education to keep everyone connected and informed.”