Washington ? World financial leaders, under pressure to battle poverty far more effectively after Sept. 11, announced a major effort to educate more poor children on Sunday as they concluded weekend discussions on the global economy.

The World Bank initiative on education will select 10 poor nations for a pilot program to develop the best approaches to achieving universal primary education by 2015. Currently, 125 million children in poor nations, two-thirds of them girls, do not attend school.

World Bank President James Wolfensohn said he hoped the participating countries could be selected by late June, when the eight top industrial nations meet in Canada for their annual economic summit, so funding commitments could be pursued.

Only Germany and the Netherlands have pledged to support the pilot program, expected to cost between $2.5 billion and $5 billion. Among countries under consideration for the pilot program are Tanzania, Malawi, Senegal and India.