BACOLOD CITY?THE ONLY TIME THE student asked to be excused from class was when she had to get her pension.

Teacher Nena Perez, 34, is talking about Rizalina Marba, or Lola Saling, a 77-year-old grandmother attending Pilipino class at the Luisa Medel National High School in Bacolod City.

?She is a good and determined student,? Perez says.

For Marba, a resident of Purok Rojas, Barangay Tangub, Bacolod, it?s never too late to pursue a dream. She is back in high school as a first-year student after 61 years.

Her ambition: To become a nurse when she turns 85?if God gives her the strength, Marba says.

?Ever since I was a child, I have dreamed of wearing a white uniform and cap, and of being able to heal people,? she says.

But her education was abruptly cut when she was 16 years old and her mother made her marry a man she barely knew and did not love.

So, nine children and 26 grandchildren later, Marba has decided to enroll in high school because it is never too late for anything if God allows it, she says.

Her classmates are 12- and 13-year-olds and her teachers?who also call her ?lola (grandmother)??are old enough to be her children or grandchildren, says Alberto Casaquite, the school principal.

While she has been very serious about her studies, Marba has had to get used to noisy classmates, Perez says.

Dressed in her school uniform?blue skirt, white blouse, white socks and black shoes?Marba says that in her elementary days, she and her classmates, one of whom was the late Negros Occidental Gov. Joseph Marañon, were more disciplined.

They listened to the teacher and did not make noise in the classroom, she recalls.

?My classmates now are very noisy. Sometimes, they make me dizzy. At snack time, they eat junk food. I tell them that if they take a full breakfast and eat healthy food, that would be much better than eating junk food,? Marba says.

Her young classmates, however, enjoy Marba?s company because she tells them stories about the past.

Good student

The eldest of five children of Alejandro Dedoroy and Felomina Honrado, Marba was born on July 3, 1932, and grew up in Fabrica in Sagay, Negros Occidental.

She was accelerated from Grade 1 to Grade 3 at the Sagay Elementary School because she was a good student. But in December 1941, World War II broke out in the Pacific theater and interrupted her education. Marba and her family went to the hills to hide from the Japanese soldiers.

In 1942, she took over the responsibility of taking care of the family and providing for them after her father died and her mother and siblings were ill with malaria. In those days, one could catch shrimps and crabs in the rivers, she recalls.

Marba resumed her studies and graduated second honor from Grade 6.

Marriage to a jealous man

When she was 16, her mother made her marry a fireman, Ricardo Marba, who was then 29.

She barely knew him, she says. ?I was just made to sign a marriage contract. It was my mother who wanted him for me. He was old enough to be my father. I did not love him.?

At the time of her marriage, she was enrolled in first-year high school. But her husband, who did not believe in the importance of education and was jealous of one of her teachers, made her quit.

When her children were in elementary school, Marba separated from her husband for a while because she was angry that he did not want to send them to school.

?He told me it was not important to send the children to school. He said they would just leave us when they grow up,? she says.

Going after her dream

Nevertheless, she insisted on providing an education for their children.

?I told him?because your parents did not send you to school, all you can do is put your thumb mark on documents. There is a better future for our children if they have an education,? Marba narrates.

She took her children to La Carlota, also in Negros Occidental, where they went to school while she sewed uniforms. However, her husband fetched them later.

?I taught my husband how to write and eventually he could write his name,? she says. He died on Dec. 8, 1990.

With all her children grown up and her husband gone, she decided to use her pension and go after her own dream.

Nothing is impossible

Marba says her grandmother was a ?paltera (midwife)? who brought her to work when she was only 8 years old.

This is probably why she wants to be nurse. She longs to wear a white uniform and cap like the nurses at the Insular Lumber Co. hospital in Fabrica, Sagay.

?I want to work in my community and help my grandchildren,? Marba says.

Age will not stop her, she adds. Nothing is impossible if one works hard to achieve one?s goal.