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World leaders promised in February they would provide the funding needed to get one million Syrian refugee children into school in this academic year.

The co-hosts of the London conference where that pledge was made were the United Kingdom, Germany, Kuwait, Norway and the United Nations.

That high-powered Supporting Syria group met again yesterday at the UN in New York �鶹APP� and heard that progress is being made but not quickly enough.

Sarah Brown, Executive Chair of the , told the co-hosts that 30,000 messages had been sent to them on Facebook and Twitter �鶹APP� along with handwritten letters from Syrian youth.

They all said one thing: You Promised. The messages urged leaders to work harder to ensure that every child in host countries gets into school.

Yara Harake, a consultant youth co-ordinator with A World at School�鶹APP�s parent charity �鶹APP, delivered the letters from Syrian refugee children to the UN.

She said: �鶹APP�I�鶹APP�m here to urge these leaders to keep their promise because promises to children should never be broken.�鶹APP�

The meeting was chaired by Lyse Doucet, the BBC�鶹APP�s Chief International Correspondent who has reported frequently on the effects of the Syrian civil war. 

She reminded the co-hosts of their promise to get every Syrian refugee child into school during the 2016-17 academic year and added: �鶹APP�This is not just an issue for the neighbouring countries. This is everyone�鶹APP�s problem.�鶹APP�

She also told the co-hosts and the audience to watch a powerful film made by �鶹APP �鶹APP� the children�鶹APP�s charity behind A World at School. It features some of our from across the world.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende said Turkey and Lebanon �鶹APP� who host the vast majority of the Syrian refugees �鶹APP� cannot be left to fund everything themselves.

The London conference agreed to deliver a package that included $1.4 billion to educate the Syrian refugees, children within Syria and vulnerable young people in host countries.

Brende added that 80% of the overall funding is contracted or disbursed. He said: �鶹APP�This is exceptional�鶹APP� but admitted: �鶹APP�There are big gaps on education.�鶹APP�

He added: �鶹APP�We must give children a glimmer of hope. This has to change.�鶹APP�

Elias Bou Saab, Lebanon�鶹APP�s Education Minister, agreed that progress is being made but the funding is six months late.

He added: �鶹APP�I�鶹APP�m opening schools without having the funding for them. We are in a crisis. We feel that international priorities are somewhere else �鶹APP� but it�鶹APP�s not too late to get every child in school.�鶹APP�

The UK�鶹APP�s Secretary for International Development, Priti Patel, also said progress was being made. But she said more pledges are needed and added: �鶹APP�We need to make good on those pledges.�鶹APP�

Sarah Brown also reported that pledges of $75 million mobilised from the private sector by GBC-Education to help educate Syrian refugees were made good.

She said everyone wants children to read and write. But �鶹APP� challenging the transparency around what has happened to the $1.4 billion pledged for education �鶹APP� she said those children cannot read about the funding progress because it is not written down.

Ben Hewitt, Campaigns and Communications Director for �鶹APP, said the Supporting Syria co-hosts had published a report this week that showed the lack of funding in 2016 and had no details on funding for 2017.

He added: �鶹APP�It�鶹APP�s vital that we track these commitments and ensure real delivery. There has been no shortage of encouraging summit communiques �鶹APP� but communiques do not put children in classrooms.

�鶹APP�Most donors have failed to meet even the most basic criteria for transparency on how much money they are giving, where it�鶹APP�s being delivered and how many children it�鶹APP�s helping get into school.�鶹APP�