UN calls for change as 57 million children have no school

Millions of children in poorer countries can't read or do simple sums according to a United Nations report.

The report says this is because there are around 57 million children who don't have a school to go to.

The UN's Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) says in some areas it could take 70 years before there are enough primary school places for every child.

It's now calling on the world's governments to help change this.

Pledge for change

World leaders had previously pledged to make sure every child has a school place before 2015 but the report estimates it's more likely to be 2086 before this happens.

The pledges were part of the Millennium Development Goals that several countries all over the world signed up to - these are promises to make key changes to improve the lives of poor people across the globe.

Each year Unesco reviews the progress that's been made and this year the authors warn that it's not likely that all of the promises will be kept.

It warns that promises such as providing a primary school place for all children and increasing the adult literacy rate by 50% are unlikely to be kept.

It also warns that aid for education is going down rather than increasing and is not being targeted at the countries that need it the most.

Halfway there

There has been some progress though; there are now half as many children unable to go to school as there were in the year 2000. That means in the past 13 years around 60 million more children now have access to an education.

However, because progress has slowed down, the UN's report says that it could take a lot longer to get the rest in education - 70 years in fact.

The report highlights a number of reasons for this, including lack of money, lack of teachers and ongoing conflicts like Syria which are affecting children's education.

Unesco director-general Irina Bokova said: "Teachers have the future of this generation in their hands.

"We need 5.2 million teachers to be recruited by 2015, and we need to work harder to support them in providing children with their right to a universal, free and quality education."