Minister for International Development Ivan Lewis joined young campaigners at the launch of ‘Send My Friend to School 09’ earlier in the week.

The launch was part of the Global Campaign for Education (GCE) which invites schoolchildren to keep up the pressure on global leaders to end the education crisis.

Comedienne Jan Ravens, Mark Lancaster MP, David Archer, GCE Board Member and young campaigners, and winners of the Steve Sinnott Award for the Young Global Education Campaigners of the Year, 14-year-old James Simmonds and Bethany Law.

There are 75 million children who do not have the opportunity to go to school. World leaders promised in 2000 to see that every child in the world had access to education by 2015. World Vision warns that at the current rate of progress, there will still be more than 40 million children out of school by 2015.

High profile supporters of this year’s campaign include Nelson Mandela, author Michael Morpurgo and Dakota Blue who have all contributed a story, poem, speech or reflection for this year’s main campaigning action The Big Read, which takes place in 100 countries on 22 April and is organised by the GCE.

The theme is the importance of literacy and how the ability to read and write opens doors for all children. After reading inspiring words from influential people, pupils will be asked to write their own stories, speeches and poems and then read them out at a school-wide read and write-athon to an audience of MPs, teachers, parents and journalists. They will then be encouraged to use the power of their words to send all their work to the Prime Minister to remind him and other world leaders to keep their promise on Education.

Philippa Lei, Chair of the GCE policy group said: “We want to see the UK Government living up to its spending commitment and prioritising countries properly.

"We are also urging the government to use its influence with other donor countries to commit their fair share of the funding gap as well as tackling institutions like the World Bank and the IMF to remove damaging conditions. Universal primary education means six years of schooling, so to meet the 2015 deadline involves full enrolment by 2010 at the latest.

"This is looking unattainable [and] time is running out fast. We urgently need a combination of money, good governance and a commitment to tackling inequality."