Three years ago, the leaders promised to provide the aid needed for every child to get a basic education.

Now a coalition of development agencies has been assessing how much they have provided, ahead of another summit meeting this month in Oslo.

The UK is ranked 13th, earning a D for "disappointing" on the report card.

It makes me sad when I see my friends going to school. Sometimes I feel I have no strength to move or do anything. They are having education and I am not Catherine Onyango, 11, Kibera slum, Kenya Countries' "report cards"

Greece and New Zealand come bottom.

Adrian Lovett of Oxfam said the UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair, could take a lead in Oslo but would need to play his part in funding the Fast Track Initiative - a global move to provide the additional money poor countries needed to provide free primary education for all their children.

"The UK government has promised to double aid for education over the next few years and to ensure the education Fast Track Initiative works," said Gabrielle Schembri of Save the Children.

"If these promises are kept Tony Blair's grade will go up but the UK will still be far behind the top of the class. After many warm words it is now time for the government to deliver."

Military spending

The Global Campaign for Education says more than 100 million children around the world get no access to education and another 150 million will not complete what primary education they do get.

Recently the United Nations education organisation, Unesco, reported that girls fare worse than boys.

The campaigners say that to ensure every child could go to school it would take an additional $5.6bn, the equivalent of three days' global military spending.

Donors currently spend $1.4bn annually on basic education for the world's children, according to the World Bank.

Last month the World Bank chief, James Wolfensohn, urged United Nations members to close the gap between defence and development spending.

He said the world spent $800bn on arms last year, compared with just $56bn on development aid.

"Donors are ready to spend $1.6bn a year on education in Iraq, " said Anne Jellama, the campaign's co-ordinator in Cape Town, South Africa.

"They need to show the same level of political will in tackling the crisis in education elsewhere."

The effect of promised funding not being delivered was that countries embarked on improvements which could not be followed through, as with Kenya's attempt to provide universal free schooling.

Commitment

A spokesperson for the Department for International Development said: "The UK government is committed to supporting good quality education for children in the poorest countries in the world.

"Since 1997 the UK has provided over �700m to support government-led education programmes in developing countries and is committed to provide a further �1bn over the next five years."

She said the Fast Track Initiative was not the only approach to providing support for education.

"We have channelled our funding, wherever possible, through national governments. For example in Uganda, Zambia and Rwanda there has been significant progress towards reaching education millennium development goals."

The UK would continue to press at the Oslo meeting for an increased commitment from all countries.