Living by touch

RIVNE — Svitlana Halushko has been teaching history in School No. 20 in Rivne for two decades now. She graduated from this school and taught her first lessons here. There is one special thing about her, though — she does not see her students.

Tenth-graders are in the middle of a world history class, discussing post-war situation on the planet. The teacher is speaking as if she were reading from a textbook. In a couple of minutes the students will become participants of the 1919 conference in Paris. Halushko asks them questions, and they respond. She unmistakably determines the students who have raised their hands and comes up to them. You can only grasp that she does not see them after taking a closer look at her fixed gaze.

“I don’t know how I manage to do this,” she says with a pleasant smile. “In general, I am like other teachers, trying to find a common language with the students and understand them. Despite the age gap, I am trying to put myself in their shoes.”

Halushko lost her eyesight when she was 21. By that time she had worked as an elementary school teacher and a painting teacher. “At the time, I was a student at Rivne Pedagogical Institute. When I enrolled, I was able to see, but I graduated a blind person. The university teachers supported me a lot and so did my classmates. I walked to the university and studied for exams with a friend of mine.

“I was fully aware that I cannot resume teaching painting, but I wanted to be a school teacher. I had already tried and had been successful. That is the reason why I decided to be a history major. I was admitted to a university in Lutsk right away.” The most difficult part was getting to another city, but relatives helped out. Halushko studied harder than her classmates and managed to graduate after three years.

“At the time, I was greatly supported by Alla Shyshkina, the then principal of the school. Blind teachers are not exactly in high demand by schools. But she believed in me and I am thankful to her for this.”

Halushko knows by heart nearly all history texts and notes for each class she teaches. “Sometimes I write cribs for my own use, but I almost never have to use them,” she says, producing cards with Braille inscriptions. “When I lost my eyesight, I went to study the Braille system for reading and writing in blind people’s association.”

All the books that Halushko needs have to be dictated and recorded on tape. Now she has a sizeable library of audio books and other editions she may need for her classes. She also has videos in her collection, primarily news broadcasts on history — these are used in teaching, too.

“I have never used a cane,” says Halushko. “After all, I can move around in the school on my own — I know every stair. I had eyesight for 21 years — the first half of my life. I remember that time well. I had good visual memory, and it still helps me.”

Halushko is sure that she lives a full-fledged life — she is not bed-ridden or “imprisoned” at home. She interacts with people and teaches children. In school time passes especially rapidly.