News

The family of the Ramallah Friends School mourns the loss of Khalil Mahshi, an extraordinary and cherished soul of its community who served the school from 1986-1994 as the Upper School Principal and later as the RFS Director. Mr. Mahshi was born in Ramallah in 1951, and died after a short illness in Amman, Jordan on the 1^st of January 2017.

A Memorial Service was held in Khalil Totah Auditorium at the school on Thursday Feb. 16th, 2017 in the attendance of many of his friends, former colleagues, and students. Ustaz Khalil's wife, Suheir Azzouni-Mahshi, spoke with the attendees over Skype from Amman, Jordan.

The service started with a few words from MC Walied Batrawi (Class of ’87) about his memories with Ustaz Khalil as school principal when he was a senior at the RFS. RFS Director Joyce Ajlouny, and Sameer Hishmeh (previous RFS Managing Principal) spoke on behalf of the school, emphasizing the late Mahshi’s accomplishments for the school.

Former colleagues of Khalil Mahshi spoke about his contributions in the various fields he worked in; Dr. Na’eem Abu-El-Houmus (Former Minister of Education) spoke about Mahshi’s contribution in establishing the Palestinian Ministry of Education. Waseem Kurdi (former RFS colleague) spoke about establishing the Educational Network with Mahshi during the first Palestinian Intifada, while Dr. Maher Hasweh, Mahshi’s friend and former colleague at Birzeit University, spoke about Mahshi’s life as a student in Birzeit and then in Lebanon, and how they worked together to establish the Faculty of Education at Birzeit University.

An excerpt from Ajlouny’s speech, as follows, also mentioned Mahshi’s accomplishments after he left our school. 

After​ ​leaving​ ​RFS,​ ​Mr. Mahshi​ ​helped​ ​found​ ​the​ ​Palestinian​ ​Ministry​ ​of​ ​Education and was later appointed as the first Arab director of the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) in Paris 2010-2014.  Mr. Mahshi also served as chairperson and senior education consultant to the UNESCO and UNICEF on crafting and planning the integration of Syrian refugees in education in Jordan, and also finalizing Afghanistan’s 3^rd National Education Strategic Plan.

For over 40 years, Khalil Mahshi was​ ​an​ ​exceptional​ ​educator​ ​who​ ​left​ ​behind​ ​a momentous​ ​body​ ​of​ ​work​ ​in​ ​education in Palestine, Jordan, France, and Afghanistan.​  He​ ​will​ ​be​ ​remembered​ ​as​ ​a​ ​pioneer​and visionary Palestinian educator​ ​and​ ​a​ ​truly​ ​extraordinary​ ​human being.