Teacher’s Day Special The Story Of A Teacher Who Made History!

Today is Teacher’s Day. And today I am remembering a teacher who made history.I am talking about Anne Sullivan. Perhaps, you may not have heard of this great teacher, but you would have surely heard of Helen Keller. You might also be certainly aware that, Helen had lost the ability to speak, hear and see when she was just a year old.

At the age of seven, this little Helen met Anne. At that time, 14-year-old Anne was teaching at a school for the blind. At the very first sight, Helen appeared to be quite talented to Anne. And she made up her mind to educate Helen. And you won’t believe that Helen’s education, which began by associating objects with their names, bore quick fruit.Reinforcedby Anne’s love, dedication, and faith, not only did Helen complete her graduation, but she also learnt typing during this period. That was not all; Helen also went on to express her thoughts inher 12books typed by herself. Moreover, so taken in was Helen by the socialist ideologythatshe even put forth her views in many countries across the world. Helen earned fame of such magnitude that she established a dialogue with as many as 12 US Presidents. There wasn’t a single prominent personality at that time who wasn’t eager to meet Helen.There wasn’t a single country that didn’t take pride in honouring Helen. And why not? After all, these benchmarks of success were created by a young girl who could neither speak hear or see.

The point to note is that in this, the contribution of her teacher Anne was no less than that of Helen’s talent.So much so that preoccupied with educating Helen, Anne married onlyat the age of 40;that is after continuously teaching Helen for 26 years. Now,when such is a teacher’sdedication and if she has such immense faith in her pupil, history is bound to be created.

My objective behind this entire discussion is to highlight the fact that if Anne could hone the talent of a girl who could neither hear, see or speak to this extent, thencan’t the teachers of today hone the talent ofour ‘normal’ children?Today, on this Teacher’s Day, I hope teachers learn from Anne’s dedication.Because, it is only a teacher who canhone children’s talent and turn them into legendary figures.

-Deep Trivedi