Over 1.6 million primary school children now receive free lunches: Denys Shmyhal

On 5 March, a meeting was held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal to expand the free school meals programme. The event was attended by Minister of Education Oksen Lisovyi, Deputy Heads of the Presidential Office Viktor Mykyta and Iryna Vereshchuk, representatives of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development, and the school meals reform team.

According to the Head of Government, more than 1.6 million primary school children currently receive free lunches.

“Our goal is to expand this initiative to all pupils. We plan to implement the reform in stages to ensure high quality meals,” the Prime Minister stressed.

Thus, according to Denys Shmyhal, from September the programme will be expanded to cover pupils in grades 5-11 in the frontline regions, which will provide support to children in the most vulnerable regions and communities.

“In the future, the ministries are tasked with expanding the infrastructure of schools and canteens,” said Denys Shmyhal. He added that the meeting discussed the issue of necessary funding for these purposes.

The Prime Minister stressed that the Government would continue to work on the school meals reform initiated by the First Lady of Ukraine to provide quality and nutritious lunches to children in educational institutions.