Ramallah Friends Schools

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The Ramallah Friends Schools are two Schools started by Quakers in the city of Ramallah, West Bank. The Friends Girls' School was founded in 1869; the Friends Boy's School was founded in 1901.

The schools are now co-educational and divided into Senior and Junior sections; a Meeting House was built in 1910.

The Friends School of Ramallah and El-Bireh strives to be a leading educational institution in the Palestinian community. The Lower School (FGS) and the Upper School (FBS) were founded in 1869 and 1901 respectively, for the purpose of offering Palestinian youth a rigorous program guided by principles of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Central to Quaker education is a vitality which comes from being a living expression of a religious life. A Friends School education seeks to promote a constant search for God to all human situations, and to cultivate ethical, moral and spiritual values.

Contents

[edit] Curriculum

The Friends Schools are considered one of the best schools in the West Bank and Gaza Strip,[1], offering various educational curricula. These include Local governmental examinations: ‘Tawjihi’, American SAT examinations, and the IB curriculum. The school was able to provide the IB curriculum after being certified in 2001 by the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO). The Friends School currently serves as the School for the best and the brightest. It is well known to educate the children of Palestinian elites.

[edit] Heads Of School

Joyce Ajlouny, School Director, has lived in Ramallah for most of her life. For fifteen years, she enjoyed an exciting career at the senior management level with international development and relief organizations, at the United Nations, and most recently as the Oxfam Great Britain Representative in Palestine. She is a graduate of the Friends Boy School (1983) and mother of three boys attending the School.

Mahmoud Amra is a Friends School graduate. After obtaining his Masters degree in physics in Germany, he started working at the Friends Boys School as a teacher for physics and mathematics. In 1997, Mahmoud became the deputy head of the school and the International Baccalaureate Programme coordinator. In 2000, he became the Head of the Boys School, and after a one-year sabbatical in 2005, has returned to the school to assume the position of Head of the Upper School.

Jeries Abu Etham has a Masters in Education Administration from Birzeit University and a B.Sc. in Chemistry from the same institution. In 2000, he accepted the Deputy Principal position at the Friends Boy School. Prior to that, he chaired the Science Department for two years, from 1998-2000, at the FBS. He is a graduate of the Friends Boy School (1974).

Diana Abdel Nour has been the Principal at the Friends Girls School since 1993; she served as the Acting Principal in 1991 and 1992. She previously worked for 16 years as a teacher of Math and Science at the Friends Girls School and at Birzeit University, and was the head of the Mathematics Department at the Girls School for eight years. Diana Abdel Nour holds a B.Sc. in Mathematics with a minor in Natural Sciences from McMaster University (Canada); and has further studied management and school administration through courses at Bethlehem University and Harvard University.

Frieda Dahdah Khayat is Deputy Principal at the Friends Girls School. She received her M.A. in Peace Education from Notre Dame University (USA) and also holds a B.A. in English Literature from Birzeit University. With over 11 years of experience in the education sector, Frieda has worked as a project coordinator and translator for local NGOs, and has taught English at various institutions. From August 2001-2002, she was the Director of Vocational Training Center at the YWCA in Jerusalem, Palestine.

[edit] Missions & Vision

Excellence in education. Quaker education calls for high academic standards and a willingness to experiment with new methodology and curricula.

Developing the whole person. Quaker education is committed to helping each member of the school community realize his or her physical, mental, spiritual, and social potential. It recognizes that every person is different, with varying abilities which must be developed to the full extent possible.

Helping each person recognize her or his responsibility to society. Quaker education is committed to helping each person recognize her or his responsibility as a caring member of the school, community, nation and global family where "each lives for the other and all live for God." The Friends School is committed to nurturing character traits such as integrity, simplicity, honesty, cooperation and compassion. The School believes in and encourages freedom of thought and expression. They expect, however, that this freedom be enjoyed with a full sense of responsibility. Quaker education advocates non-violence as a viable option for resolving conflict in every aspect of life. These values are best learned through the example and practice as students, teachers, parents, workers and administrators interact with each other.

Equality. Quaker education believes that all people are equal before God regardless of gender, creed, culture, color or social status. Quaker education in Palestine has focused from the beginning on the education of women to develop their potential and realize their opportunity to be equal members of their community. Quaker education is built on the belief that "all are children of God" and that within each person "there is that of God to be nurtured."

It is upon this foundation that Friends Schools' students grow to be strong and sensitive members of their families, their community and the world in which they live.

[edit] School History

The Friends School has a long and honored history in Palestine and it is interesting to trace the origins of our two schools of which we are justly proud. The history of the Friends School is one closely tied with the history of Palestine. Over the last century, the School has experienced Turkish, British, Jordanian, Israeli occupation, world wars, and closures. The Friends School, in its checkered political history, has served not only as a school, but also as a center for refugees, hospital, and a center for community lectures, concerts and other cultural activities.

In 1869 Eli and Sybil Jones from the New England Yearly Meeting of Friends visited Ramallah, asking what do you need? The answer: a school for girls. We have none. The Jones’s established several girls schools in Ramallah and surrounding villages. Borrowing heavily from the school’s literature, in October 1889 Friends Girls School opened as “The Girls Training Home of Ramallah”.

The fifteen students who enrolled the first year came from Lydd, Jaffa, Aboud, Jerusalem, Beirut and Ramallah, and six years later the first class graduated. Gradually, class by class was added until Friends Girls School became a secondary as well as an elementary school. A Boys Training Home was founded in 1901, at the urging of community members, for the purpose of providing Palestinian boys a rigorous academic program under girded by the principles of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). The school was first housed in a building near the Friends Girls School in Ramallah and as the school grew from its initial enrolment of 15 students, land was bought in El-Bireh in 1905 and the first stone of the main building laid in 1913. The first experiments in mixed classes of boys and girls began in 1902, the two training homes for Boys and for Girls had classes together for one and half hours a day and it was hailed as a great success. The Friends Meeting House in the centre of Ramallah was built in 1910. (More later about the meeting and its connection with the school.)

In 1914 the Friends Boys School Main Building was completed but it only came into use as a school in 1918. The Girls Training Home and the Boys School like all other schools in Palestine were closed throughout the First World War. During those years Turkish and then British troops occupied the buildings. British troops used the Boys School as a hospital in 1917.

Both schools reopened in 1919. At the newly named ‘Friends Girls School, day students, as well as boarders were accepted. The Lowell Jones Library was given by Rufus Jones in 1928.

The partition of Palestine in 1948 and the subsequent expulsion of many Palestinians again changed the character of the School. Friends Meeting House and the School grounds as they became the temporary home for refugees. School numbers swelled to accommodate refugees from the coastal cities. The White Gifts giving was instituted to give foodstuffs and money to needy families. There was a conscious endeavour to increase the Schools’ scholarship support. As World War Two came to an end, once again the schools continued to struggle to be a positive influence in a troubled world.

The schools had a relatively peaceful life during the Jordanian period from 1948-1967.

Following Israeli occupation the boarding sections in both schools were closed, as students from neighboring countries were no longer able to come. Since the very earliest years of the schools’ foundation, both boys and girls from the two separate schools had shared some classes and this strategy had proved successful. Both boys and girls were always taught together from Kindergarten to Grade 2. The upper Kindergarten had begun very early in the Friends Girls School history and was permanently expanded to the Lower Kindergarten in 1983. There was a growing belief that co-education was educationally sound and could work well in Palestine. As the first Intifada, or Palestinian uprising, grew in strength, enrolment plummeted. The financial situation also put pressure on the Board to look closely at how to use the resources of the two schools more efficiently. In 1990, the campus of the Girls School became a co-educational Elementary School and Kindergarten and the campus of the Boys School became a co-educational High School. When both schools are fully occupied, [elementary school] will have 580 pupils in Kindergarten and grades 1 to 6 and [secondary school] 470 boys and girls in grades 7 to 12.

Following the Oslo agreements, the uneasy peace brought greater stability to the schools with the emergence for the first time of a government in waiting that had a real interest in Palestinian education. The second Intifada began in September 2000. Since the beginning of the second uprising, the Schools have been in the center of towns exposed to a new level of violence with sequences of nightly shelling from Israeli tanks and light artillery and attacks by helicopter gunners. The psychological well being of parents, students and staff was shaken and enrolment figures fell to 370 pupils in the secondary school and 540 in the elementary school in 2000/2001 as families left for America and elsewhere to escape the violence. The expansion of the elementary school to three classes in each grade from 1 to 6 was completed in September 2003. However, in the past following each tragedy the school has recovered, maintaining its reputation as a leading academic center in the Palestinian community. Despite everything today the Schools continue to demonstrate the resilience and patience of the Palestinian community keeping alive the hope and vision of a better future and to demonstrate the willingness of our Friends and Alumni overseas to help financially when the school’s viability is threatened.


[edit] The Ottoman Empire

Friends work began in 1869 with a number of small schools for girls in the villages surrounding Ramallah. In October 1889, Friends Girls School opened as “The Girls Training Home of Ramallah”. The fifteen students who enrolled the first year came from Lydd, Jaffa, Aboud, Jerusalem, Beirut and Ramallah, and six years later the first class graduated. Miss Katie Gabriel from Lebanon was the first principal, serving eighteen years. In 1897, the first addition was made to the original two-story house; a dining room with adjoining room and hallway, and a dormitory above, which is now Swift Hall. Gradually, classes were added until the Friends Girls School became a secondary, as well as, an elementary school. In 1910, the third floor dormitory was added. A Boys Training Home was founded in 1901, at the urging of community members, for the purpose of providing Palestinian boys a rigorous academic program guided by the principles of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). The Principal between 1901-1903 was Elihu Grant. The school was first housed in a building near the Friends Girls School in Ramallah and as the school grew from its initial enrollment of 15 students, land was bought in El-Bireh in 1905 and the first stone of the main building laid in 1913. The first experiments in mixed classes of boys and girls began in 1902, the two training homes for Boys and Girls had classes together for one and half hours a day and it was hailed as a great success. The Friends Meeting House in the center of Ramallah was built in 1910.

[edit] First World War

In 1914 the Friends Boys School Main Building was completed but it only came into use as a school in 1918. The Girls Training Home and the Boys School, like all other schools in Palestine, were closed throughout the war. During those years Turkish and then British troops occupied the buildings. British troops used the Boys School as a hospital in 1917.

[edit] British Mandate

Both schools reopened in 1919. At the newly named Friends Girls School, day students, as well as, boarders were accepted. Electrical lights were first used at the schools in 1923. Building at the Girls School continued and in 1925 the remainder of the third floor was constructed. At that time the former dormitory on the second floor was converted into an assembly room and named Swift Hall in honor of Sara J. Swift of New England. The home economics cottage was built in 1929 and Whittier Hall in honor of Alice Whittier Jones in 1934. Boys first took the Palestinian Matriculation examination in Jerusalem in 1926. The Lowell Jones Library was given by Rufus Jones in 1928. Tennis courts were added in 1927. Grant Hall was built in 1933.

[edit] Partition/Expulsion

The partition of Palestine in 1948 and the subsequent expulsion of many Palestinians again changed the character of the School. Friends Meeting House and the School grounds became the temporary home for refugees. School numbers swelled to accommodate refugees from the coastal cities. The White Gifts giving was instituted to give foodstuffs and money to needy families. There was a conscious endeavor to increase the Schools’ scholarship support. As World War Two came to an end, once again the schools continued to struggle to be a positive influence in a troubled world.

[edit] Jordanian Rule

The School had a relatively peaceful life during the Jordanian period from 1948-1967. The fifth secondary class of the Friends Girls School was added in 1956, and plans were ready for opening the sixth secondary in 1963. In 1962, four classrooms were added to Whittier Hall. During Jordanian rule, the Friends School earned a reputation throughout the Middle East as a superlative educational institution. Attracted by the educational practices, expectations of student discipline, and commitment from faculty and staff, students all across the Middle East came to the Ramallah Friends School, a legendary boarding school at its time, to complete their studies. This period of School history also engendered many successful alumni who have attained prosperous careers in various professions throughout the world. Beginning in the later 50s, enrollment figures for the FBS rose dramatically, reaching a peak in 1966 at 320 students.

[edit] Israeli Occupation

Following Israeli occupation, the boarding sections in both schools were closed, as students from neighboring countries were no longer able to come. The enrollment figure for the class of 67/68 plummeted to 180, compared to the previous year of 320. Gradually, enrollment figures began to rise steady. In less than a decade, the student population would reach 350, and would continue to rise steadily thereafter.

Since the very earliest years of the School’s foundation, both boys and girls from the two separate campuses had shared some classes and this strategy had proved successful. Both boys and girls were always taught together from Kindergarten to Grade 2 and merged again under the science and arts Tawjihi tracks in the 11th and 12th grades. The Upper Kindergarten had begun very early in the Friends Girls School history and was permanently expanded to the Lower Kindergarten in 1983. There was a growing belief that co-education was educationally sound and could work well in Palestine. As the first Intifada, or Palestinian uprising, grew in strength, enrollment plummeted. The financial situation also put pressure on the Board to look closely at how to use the resources of the two schools more efficiently. In 1990, the campus of the Girls School became a co-educational Elementary School and Kindergarten and the campus of the Boys School became a co-educational High School.

[edit] Palestinian National Authority

Following the Oslo agreements, the uneasy peace brought greater stability to the School with the emergence for the first time of a government in waiting that had a real interest in Palestinian education. The second Intifada began in September 2000. Since the beginning of the second uprising, the Friends School has been in the center of towns exposed to a new level of violence with sequences of nightly shelling from Israeli tanks and light artillery and attacks by helicopter gunners. The psychological well being of the parents, students and staff was shaken and the enrollment figures fell to 370 pupils in the FBS and 540 in the FGS in 2000/2001 as families left for America and elsewhere to escape the violence. However, following each tragedy the School has recovered, maintaining its reputation as a leading academic center in the Palestinian community.

Despite everything today, the Friends School continues to demonstrate the resilience and patience of the Palestinian community keeping alive the hope and vision of a better future. The adoption of new programs during this period reflects upon this interest. In 1999, the School became accredited by the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), offering students in Palestine for the first time an IB Diploma Program. New buildings at the Upper School were erected to accommodate more students from ASHA grants, namely the new Science Building and Multipurpose Hall, and plans are currently underway to create a new Special Needs Resource Center and Kindergarten Building with monies provided by the UNDP.

Following the Israeli pullout from parts of Ramallah and el-Bireh in 2003, School services have remained uninterrupted. The School cherishes the prospect of greater stability in the future and continued growth within the community.

[edit] Executive Board Members

Samer Shehadeh, the current Chairman of the BOT, is a businessman and senior manager of an insurance agency in Ramallah. Previously, he has worked for the World Health Organization in the West Bank. He holds a B.A. degree in political science and political theory from George Washington University, an M.A. in International Relations from the David M. Kennedy Center of Brigham Young University, and an Advanced Degree in Law, Economics, and Psychology from Loughborough Technical College, England.

Joyce Ajlouny, School Director, has lived in Ramallah for most of her life. For fifteen years, she enjoyed an exciting career at the senior management level with international development and relief organizations, at the United Nations, and most recently as the Oxfam Great Britain Representative in Palestine. She is a graduate of the Friends Boy School (1983) and mother of three boys attending the School.

Ghassan A. Khatib is the former Minister of Planning for the Palestinian National Authority. He worked previously as the Director of the Jerusalem Media and Communication Center since its establishment 1988, and was also working as a lecturer at Birzeit University, Culture Studies since his graduation 1982 until 2002. He carries a B.A. degree in Economics and Business, a M.A. degree in Development Studies and is a PhD candidate, Middle East Politics at the University of Durham, United Kingdom. He is married and has three children. He was instrumental in establishing a Parent Teacher Association and headed the first PTA at the Friends School.

Varsen Aghabekian acquired her PhD from the University of Pittsburg in Education and Administrative and Policy studies. She has spent over eighteen years in training, research, technical assistance and consultancies in the health and social sectors. She is currently the Director of Research and Planning at the Welfare Association, a grant making body that sponsors community support initiatives in education, health and environment. Prior to that appoint, Varsen served Al-Quds University as an associate professor and undertaken many consultancies for international bodies in her career. Varsen’s children are enrolled at the School

Allyn Dhynes is an American citizen whose mother was Palestinian. He is a Quaker and has been a member of the Board of Trustees since September 1, 2004. He is present on the Board as a Friends United Meeting representative. He attended George Fox University, Oregon and obtained his BA degree in International Studies. He speaks fluent Arabic and French, as well as, English. He has taught at Friends School for three years as an International Field Staff for FUM and has subsequently worked with World Vision in Jerusalem for five years to date.

Jane Masri is a managerial and financial business executive with more than 15 years of experience in industry advocacy, strategic planning, communications and financial management, organizational structuring, and customer relations management. Mrs. Masri holds a B.A. degree in Economics and English Literature from Bucknell University, Pennsylvania, USA. Her appointment to the Board began in 2005/6. She is an active parent with two daughters at the school.

Cairo Arafat is currently serving as the Director General of Aid Management and Coordination at the Ministry of Planning. She holds a PhD in Psychology and an MA in Neuropsychology. She has worked with various children relief organizations, included UNICEF and the Secretariat for Children and is a parent of children attending the School.

Mazen Karam is a civil engineer with over 30 years of extensive experience in engineering, construction, and management of civil, water, environmental, petrochemical and general building programs throughout the Middle East including Yemen, Gaza, West Bank, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Saudi Arabia. He is presently the Country Manager for Morganti Group, INC ( USA ) in Palestine , managing multi-million dollar projects. Mr. Karam is an Alumnus of FBS and a parent at the school. His appointment as a Board member began in May 2006.

Issa Kassis is a respected banker and is currently the Manager of the HSBC Bank in Ramallah. Mr. Kassis brings to the Board of Trustees many years of banking and finance experience from having worked in the sector in Jordan for a number of years. His appointment as a Board member began in June 2006.


[edit] Music Program

The highly praised Friends School music program, partly staffed by international musicians from all over the world, is supported through the Barenboim-Said Foundation. This program offers students both individual and group instruction in their musical instruments in preparation of varying musical activities and public performances. Many students also enjoy the opportunity to take part in international music celebrations.

Since Maestro Daniel Barenboim offered his support three years ago to build up a music department at the Friends School in Ramallah, the School's musical livelihood has started to grow. The School has now established the beginnings of a student orchestra and brass band. In cooperation with the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, it has also hosted several instrumental teachers from abroad and the National Youth Orchestra.

Instrumental lessons in violin, viola, cello, clarinet, oboe, French horn, trumpet, trombone and piano are available. The teachers for those instruments are highly qualified and chosen by Mr. Barenboim himself. Every year, students receive a Barenboim-Said-Music-Certificate if they successfully participate in required lessons, orchestra (or a chamber-music-group) and the Music Listening Skills lesson or an equivalent lesson.

[edit] Alumni

Among the distinguished alumni of the schools are Hanan Ashrawi, Serene Husseini Shahid, Hani Masri, Joyce Khalaf and Raja Shehadeh.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Education in the Palestinian territories
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