EDUCATION is a right but many children miss out on it. Education is one of the most powerful tools humans used to pass information and experiences from one generation to the next. It helps all people reach their full potential. It is the single most vital element in combating poverty, empowering women and safeguarding children from exploitation and dangerous work.

Everyone agrees that education is a priority. However, prioritizing education in public expenditure is a different issue. The government faces many challenges in allocating its budgets and, while it may claim to support education, they do not always put their money where their mouth is.

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We can’t blame student leaders from various state universities and colleges (SUCs) in the country for hitting on the "meager" funding allocated to higher education in the 2010 budget. The government, they said, is just paying lip service to the improvement of education after the House of approved on third and final reading the P1.541 trillion budget without major adjustments.

In the 2010 national budget, SUCs are proposed to only receive P21.034 billion. The student leaders can?t just accept the clear blow to their right to education. To assert for our right to education is to assert for a conscious society that is free from exploitation," UP Student Regent Charisse Bernadine Banez said.

Overall, allocation for SUCs will be slashed by 13 percent (P3.2 billion) in the proposed 2010 budget. Based on the 2010 National Expenditure Program, bulk of SUCs' projected income of P10.2 billion will be sourced from tuition fees (P4.59 billion) and other income collected from students (P2.23 billion). Government subsidy for state-run higher education institutions have also dropped from 84.14 percent in 2001 when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo came to power to 67.25 next year.

Records showed that out of 100 Grade 1 pupils, only two-thirds will finish Grade 6; out of this, only 58 will go on to high school, only 43 will actually finish high school, and only 14 will finish college with a degree.

The Commission on Higher Education (Ched) has also sounded the alarm on the deteriorating quality of higher education in the country due to sub-standard facilities and lack of qualification of faculty members.

Ched chair Dr. Emmanuel Angeles said if the present trend continues and no intervention is done, it would take about 10 to 20 years to rehabilitate the country's higher education sector.

Ched needs about P40 billion for the next five years to improve the quality of higher education in the country to make it at par with the rest of the world. The amount will be on top of the regular annual funding that the Commission gets from Congress and will be used not only to upgrade facilities and equipment in colleges and universities but also provide for scholarships for students and teachers alike.

By analyzing financing issues, we can gain insight into government priorities and the factors that influence spending, and at the same time collect information which can be useful for our advocacies and influencing work. The key is the understanding the relationships between local and national level. What is spent on education locally is determined by national policy. By enabling people to explore issues of education funding, various opportunities are created to locate the local situation within the wider picture, and develop mechanisms for local people to engage in the big question of national economic policy.

How can we instill an understanding of fundamental human rights? Achieve sustainable social and economic development? Stop gender disparity? Put an end to child labor? Eliminate the sexual exploitation of children? Give hope to a new generation of children growing up in an ever more complex world if quality, relevant education is not a priority?