New York  - Governments and private-sector groups announced Thursday pledges of 4.5 billion dollars to bring 15 million children to school over the next three years, dubbing the programme "Class of 2015: Education for All."

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown led the campaign that included a line up of supportive governments, faith groups, non-governmental organizations and education advocates.

"I am proud today to help launch the Class of 2015 - uniting governments, faith groups, the private sector, civil society organizations and football as never before," Brown said at UN headquarters in New York during a one-day review of progress made on carrying out the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Universal primary education for all children by 2015 is one of the eight goals. The others deal with eradicating poverty and hunger, halting the spread of HIV/AIDS, ending maternal and child mortality and achieving gender equality.

The UN said eight years after launching the MDGs that the education goal has been missed at mid-range toward 2015, particularly in gender parity. Education experts, borrowing the usual UN language, said the goal can be reached by 2015, but much more remained to be done.

Kailash Satyarthi, president of the Global Campaign for Education, said 16 billion dollars would be needed each year in order to achieve education for all children by 2015.

"Children are waiting at the school gates, despite repeated promises from the international community," Satyarthi said.

The UN said 41 million more children have attended school since the MDGs were launched in 2000, but 75 million other children of primary school age are still not in school, and many of them are working in factories and farms.

The World Bank's President Robert Zoellick said his organization planned to spend 1.5 billion dollars per year for education through the International Development Association, in 2008 and 2009.

The new funds will assist governments in more than 30 countries to reduce the number children still out of school children globally by at least 3.5 million per year and improve school quality and learning for more than 150 million children each year. (dpa)