New York: Lack of funds due to global economic crises would force 56 million children across the world to drop out of schools by 2015, a UN report said. In a 'collective aid failure', rich countries continue to neglect basic education and exaggerate the amount of assistance they do deliver, according to the annual Global Monitoring Report released by Unesco here Tuesday.

'The bottom line is we are an awfully long way from achieving the universal Millennium Development Goal of primary education by 2015,' said Kevin Watkins, editor of the report, entitled Reaching the Marginalised. With less than five years to the 2015 target date, the report highlighted several key areas for concern, particularly in gender discrimination. Girls still account for 54 percent of school drop-outs.

With no adjustments made, 56 million primary school age children will still be out of school in 2015. The consequences will lead to lost opportunities in economic growth, poverty reduction and progress in health, it said.

The context of the report was 'worrying', said Watkins, because the world is beginning to see the after-effects of the financial crisis across poor countries. Sub-Saharan Africa stands to lose the most. With fiscal deficits rising across the region, education spending plans could face painful adjustments. The region is expected to be deprived of $4.6 billion per year in public spending in 2009 and 2010 as a direct result of the economic crisis, the report said.

'We need to turn the spotlight onto the households of children who are falling behind,' said Watkins. 'They are born into the poorest families. They are child labourers. They live in urban slums.'

Aid commitment to basic education, having stagnated from 2004, fell more than one-fifth in 2007, the report said. ‘The international donor community has effectively failed to deliver on the educational commitments. We call on the international community to reverse the trend,’ Xinhua quoted Watkins as saying.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called upon donor countries to urgently step up their efforts in meeting the target in the next five years.

'Let us all work together with great urgency to meet the target we set ourselves for 2015' as aid for education equates to 'great returns' for poverty reduction, economic growth, child survival and democracy, Ban said while releasing the report.

'All too often, governments are delivering good quality education for some, while failing to provide for poor, socially marginalised children,' he said adding: 'We must overcome this disparity.'

-- IANS