The aftershock of the global financial crisis threatens to deprive millions of children in the poorest countries of education, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) warned Tuesday.

UNESCO said in the 2010 Education for All Global Monitoring Report that 72 million children are still out of school, and the deceleration of economic growth together with the rise of poverty and the poor countries' budget pressures could erode the education achievements of the past decade.

"While rich countries are creating necessary conditions for its economic recovery, many poor countries face the immediate prospect of recession in their education systems," the report said.

The report urged the rich countries and the Group of Eight (G8) to increase aid with conditions of preference to the poorest countries.

According to the report, the donor countries will have to cover a financing deficit of US$16 billion per year in order to achieve the goal of popularizing elementary education by 2015.

The Global Monitoring Report is developed annually by an independent team and published by UNESCO. It aims to evaluate global progress towards the six goals of the UNESCO's education policy, which was established in 2000.

(Xinhua News Agency January 20, 2010)