Some 67 million children out of school, UN goal may be out of reach

Mar 1, 2011, 18:47 GMT

New York - The United Nations goal of providing primary education to all children in the world by 2015 may fail because an estimated 67 million children were out of school in 2008, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization said Tuesday.

Among those not in school were 28 million children caught in armed conflicts, UNESCO said in a global monitoring report on education. It said the 2015 goal of primary school for all children will be missed by a 'wide margin.'

The report said an additional 52 million children enrolled in primary school between 1999 and 2008. But the number of children out school was falling too slowly - to 67 million in 2008.

'If current trends continue, there could be more children out of school in 2015 than there are today,' the report said.

The report said children continued to be drafted as child soldiers in armed conflicts in 24 countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, the Central African Republic, Myanmar and Sudan.

UNESCO said all that was needed was 16 billion dollars a year in development assistance to put all children in the world through primary school.

By contrast, it said the United States and Europe spent a combined 31 billion dollars a year on ice cream, 13 billion dollars on perfume and 12 billion dollars on pet food.

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