Developing countries have made strides in closing the gender gap between boys and girls? schooling but the pace is too slow, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, the U.N. Children?s Fund said yesterday. A study by the UNICEF found that fewer than 100 million children worldwide may be out of primary school in 2005, down from an estimated 115 million in 2001.

The U.N. hopes to see gender differences in primary education erased as part of its goal of universal primary school education by 2015. ?There has been significant progress both in terms of getting children into school and in closing the gender gap,? said UNICEF executive director Carol Bellamy. ?But ... the rate of progress is just too slow.?

Most countries in sub-Saharan Africa and many in South Asia will not reach the U.N. goal of universal primary education by 2015 without much more effort, UNICEF said. The five countries furthest from closing the gender gap in primary school are Yemen, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mali, UNICEF said in the report. Pakistan is also far behind. Children in rural areas suffer most, as do those in areas hit by poverty, armed conflict or AIDS, Bellamy said.

UNICEF and many development agencies hold that better education for women and girls is the key to improving economic growth and standard of living.