US/Global 
CAN
jeewan chanicka
During his 20 years as an educator, jeewan chanicka has held a variety of roles in several districts in Ontario, including the Toronto District School Board, where he served as the superintendent of equity, anti-racism, and anti-oppression and superintendent of schools.
jeewan chanicka
chanicka’s education career began in early childhood education and adult literacy. During his 20 years as an educator, he has held a variety of roles, including support worker, teacher, administrator, principal, and superintendent. His work spans several districts in Ontario, including York Region District School Board and Canada's largest school board, the Toronto District School Board, where he served as the superintendent of equity, anti-racism, and anti-oppression and superintendent of schools. chanicka also worked at the Ontario Ministry of Education. In 2019, he assumed the role of CEO in Dubai to develop the blueprint model for a growing district of schools across the Middle East anchored in innovation and curriculum design.
chanicka speaks several languages and is recognized provincially, nationally, and internationally for his work in social justice advocacy, curriculum, anti-racism, human rights, and innovation. He is one of a select group of global senior education leaders highlighted as a TED-Ed Innovative Educator and delivered his TED-Ed talk at TEDSummit 2019 in Scotland.
In his spare time, he enjoys traveling, cooking (but not doing dishes), landscaping, art, writing, community service, and spending time on the land and in water. He enjoys adventure and thrill seeking and has had all types of experiences, including running a marathon in the Alps, scuba diving, skydiving, parasailing, zip-lining, rock climbing, and more. He is a father of three children and is continually doing his own personal transformation and healing work.
He holds a master's in education from York University, a bachelor's in education from the University of Toronto, and a bachelor’s with a focus on culturally responsive mediation and bargaining from York University.
He currently serves approximately 65,000 students and 10,000 staff across more than 130 schools and sites as the director of education, where his work focuses on challenging historically entrenched outcomes for the most marginalized learners and moving systems and structures out of the 19th century and toward the 22nd.
