TORONTO — Canadian entrepreneur Seymour Schulich has donated $2 million to World ORT, the largest gift ever from a Canadian to the global Jewish educational organization.

Seymour Schulich

Schulich’s gift will establish the Schulich Canada Smart Classroom Initiative, which “will bring a new dimension to teaching, generating class interaction with educational software, websites, and other resources,” according to a March 31 statement from World ORT.

The initiative, part of Kadima Mada, World ORT’s programming arm in Israel, will launch 411 “smart classrooms” in northern Israel. It will include equipment, teacher-training programs, development of learning materials, upgrades and maintenance.

Schools selected for the project have been identified by Israel’s Ministry of Education and Ministry for the Development of the Galilee and the Negev as being in areas of “economic and social distress.”

The classrooms will be provided with laptops that connect to a wireless network linking students’ computers to the teacher’s workstation and whiteboard. Some 40,000 students are expected to benefit from the initiative.

Teachers also will be equipped with hand-held tablet computers so they can walk around classrooms. “Smart classrooms” also will be able to access World ORT’s videoconferencing network.

“I am extremely grateful to Seymour Schulich for this outstanding donation,” Robert Singer, director general and CEO of World ORT, said in a statement. “Today, education is the best investment in the future for the Jewish people and for the future of the State of Israel.”

Schulich’s gift was partnered through UJA Federation of Greater Toronto.

Federation president Ted Sokolsky told The CJN that his organization is playing a role at the request of Schulich, who is involved in its Jewish camp incentive program, Top Bunk.

The federation’s role in the ORT donation included “due diligence” on the project and “stewarding” the gift, Sokolsky said. The federation is involved with ORT on a number of international projects, he added.

“It’s a great gift,” said Sokolsky, who is familiar with the recipient communities from work the federation has done there. “It’s a capacity-building gift… [Schulich] has always had a great belief in the power of education.”

The donation will be matched by an additional $9.75 million from World ORT, the Israeli ministries of education and of the Negev and Galilee, local authorities, and ORT donors.

Schulich is well known for his philanthropy, notably to a number of Canadian universities, as well as to the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.

With files from Frances Kraft