Added to the long list of achievements in the curriculum vitae of President Shimon Peres  is a new one  earned at age 90. Peres merited an entry into the Guiness Book of Records on Thursday by presenting an online class in civics at the Cisco Israel headquarters in Netanya.  Only two days earlier, Peres had presented Cisco Systems Israel Ltd. with an export prize designated for a multinational company. Israel is the first country outside of the United States in which Cisco established an R&D center.

Peres delivered the lesson to 9,000 high school students in scores of classrooms across the country.

Initially, it was thought that some 6,500 students would participate in the project, but greater interest was kindled after the spokesperson’s department in the President’s Office put out an advance press release.

Marco Frigatti the Senior Vice President of Guiness World Records flew into Israel on Wednesday night to be present at Cisco during the lesson and to verify the record if attained. He came with the certificate of recognition already prepared.

The reason that Peres went to Cisco headquarters instead of giving the lesson from his own office as is the case when he gives live, video-taped broadcasts, is that special technology was required to monitor an event of this range, and to determine just how many people it was reaching.

The lesson was a pioneering step towards digitalized education that will enable all schools to operate according to similar standards, and will enable students in schools in peripheral parts of the country to get as broad and in depth an education as students in the best schools in the center of the country. .

In presenting the citation to Peres, Frigatti said that Guiness immediately liked the idea of this particular record breaking event because it combined civics, technology and a teacher who had seen the progress of the state from its origins to the present time. Frigatti also noted that civics and democracy are relevant to everyone.  Cisco’s global chairperson John Chambers has been to Israel and has  met with Peres more than once. It was at Chambers’ initiative that Cisco Israel has been working in close cooperation with the government in the realm of health care, education, communications, infrastructure and cyber said Boaz Maoz the CEO of Cisco Systems Israel. The aim is to make Israel the first digitalized country in the world