MAHSHI, KHALIL (1951-2017)

Born in Ramallah on 14 Aug. 1951; graduated from the Frères College in Jerusalem in 1969; earned an Associate of Science Degree from Birzeit College in 1971; studied at the AUB, receiving a BSc in Physics in 1973; worked as Research Assistant in the Documentation Dept. of the Palestine Research Center in Beirut; continued his studies and earned an MA in Science Education from the AUB in 1978; returned to the West Bank and was affiliated with Birzeit University from 1975-86; set up the Education and Psychology Dept. at Birzeit University, in which he lectured and served as Chairman; also founded and directed the Birzeit University Research Center and served as Assistant Dean of the Birzeit University Faculty of Arts; initiated and supervised the implementation of the ‘Education for Awareness and Involvement’ project; was member of several Birzeit University committees, incl. the Education for Detainees Committee, the Community Work Program, and the Employees’ Union Constitution Committee; participated in setting up the Literacy and Adult Education Center at Birzeit University and was member of the Palestinian Higher Committee for Literacy and Adult Education in the West Bank and Gaza from 1976-83; continued his studies and earned a PhD in Science Education from Chelsea College, London University in 1980; was member of the committee that founded the Ramallah Municipality Children’s Library (1981-82), the Rural Development Committee in the Arab Thought Forum in Jerusalem (1982-84), and the Advisory Committee of the Early Childhood Resource Center in Jerusalem (1985-86); was Board of Trustees member of the Arab Thought Forum in Jerusalem (1985-93) and the Ramallah Friends Schools (1985-86 and 1997-99); served as Director of the Ramallah Friends’ Schools from 1989-94; was a founding member of Al-Mawrid Teachers Resource Center in Ramallah (1990) and the Council for Higher Education in the West Bank and Gaza (Aug. 1990-Nov. 1992, in 1994 also serving as member of its School Education Planning Committee); Advisory Committee member for Programs at the Welfare Association, Geneva, from 1992-93; was awarded the Palmes Academiques Knighthood medal by the Minister of Education in France in 1993; was Dir.-Gen. for International and Public Relations at the PA Ministry of Education from Aug. 1994-Dec. 2000; member of the Supervisory Board of the National Conservatory of Music (now the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music) in Ramallah since 1999; Program Specialist of the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning since Jan. 2001; in summer 2005 assisted the PA Ministry of Education and Higher Education in formulating its Education Strategic Development Plan, 2006-2010; has authored numerous articles, papers and books; among his publications are Conditions for Higher Education in the Occupied Territories (Birzeit, 1978), The Palestinian Uprising and Education for the Future (Harvard Review, 1989) and (with Bush, K.) School Education in Palestine: From Collapse to Empowerment (1998). He died on January 1st 2017 in Amman.

ولد في رام الله عام 1951؛ تخرج من كلية الفرير في القدس عام 1969؛ درس في الجامعة الأمريكية في بيروت، حصل على شهادة البكالوريوس في علوم الفيزياء عام 1973؛ عمل كمساعد في البحث قي قسم التوثيق في مركز الأبحاث الفلسطيني في بيروت؛ أكمل دراساته و حصل على درجة الماجستير في أساليب تدريس العلوم من الجامعة الأمريكية في بيروت عام 1978؛ عاد إلى الضفة الغربية و انضم إلى جامعة بيرزيت (1975 - 1986)؛ ساهم في مشروع (الثقافة من أجل التوعية والمشاركة) ومركز الثقافة للراشدين والمتعلمين في جامعة بيرزيت؛ أكمل دراسته و حصل على شهادة الدكتوراه في أساليب تعليم العلوم من كلية تشيلسي، جامعة لندن عام 1980؛ عمل مديراً لمدارس الفرندز في رام الله (1989-1994)؛ تم تسليمه ميدالية palmes academiques knighthood من قبل وزير التربية في فرنسا عام 1993؛ كان المدير العام للعلاقات العامة والخارجية لوزارة التربية والتعليم في السلطة الفلسطينية من آب/أغسطس 1994 - كانون أول/يناير 2000 ؛ متخصص برامج في المؤسسة العالمية للتخطيط التربوي في اليونيسكو منذ كانون ثاني 2001؛ كتب العديد من المقالات، والابحاث؛ من منشوراته أوضاع التعليم العالي في الأراضي المحتلة (بيرزيت، 1978)، الثورة الفلسطينية و التعليم للمستقبل (نشرة من هارفرد، 1989) و مع بوش التعليم المدرسي في فلسطين: من الانهيار إلى السلطة ( 1998)، توفّي في عمّان بتاريخ 1 كانون الثاني/يناير 2017 بعد صراع مع المرض.