From September, meals at school will be free for primary school students, and for 5-11 grade students in general secondary education institutions in frontline regions. This was announced by Minister of Education Oksen Lisovyi on the air of the telethon, UNN reports.
Details
Lisovyi commented on which grades and regions free student meals apply to.
Providing meals, including free meals, is part of the school nutrition reform, which began even before the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation. In wartime conditions, it has gained even greater importance.
The Minister noted that the first stage was to provide free meals for children in grades 1-4.
In parallel with the provision and allocation of state subventions, state funds for children's nutrition, school canteens and food blocks are being modernized, and the infrastructure of hubs for training cooks based on vocational schools and colleges is being developed. This is a large systemic effort. Today we are talking exclusively about the funds we allocate specifically for providing meals.
Therefore, according to him, grades 1-4 are the first stage, and now the transition to the second stage is underway - free meals for grades 5-11.
But we prioritize grades 5-11 for frontline regions. Thus, in frontline regions, children studying in person from grades 5 to 11 (in frontline regions - ed.) will receive free meals. And grades 1-4 throughout Ukraine.
Funding for free meals
The Minister stated that funds were provided for the beginning of the academic year, and now the Cabinet of Ministers has additionally allocated almost UAH 800 million.
These funds will allow us to ensure the start of the academic year. Additional funds are provided in the amendments to the state budget for 2025. Almost UAH 800 million will provide meals for grades 1-4 throughout Ukraine and grades 5-11 in frontline territories for the first month; funds will be distributed to communities until the end of the year.
Addition
The government allocated almost UAH 780 million for free student meals.
Funding will be provided from the remaining educational subvention funds that accumulated in local budget accounts as of the end of 2024 and were transferred to the special fund of the state budget for the Ministry of Education and Science.
These funds will be used to provide free meals for primary school students throughout the country, as well as to organize meals for 5-11 grade students in general secondary education institutions in Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, and Chernihiv regions.