219 school buses have been purchased by thirteen regions for the safe transportation of students under the state School Bus programme. Their total cost is UAH 760 million.

“The state school bus programme performs a social function and at the same time stimulates the machine building industry. Even during the war, the Government has allocated UAH 1.2 billion for the purchase of Ukrainian-made school buses. This will help businesses get orders, people get jobs, and children get safe and comfortable transport,” said Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine.

A total of about 500 buses are to be purchased this year. Part of the cost will be covered by co-financing from local budgets.

Thirteen regions have already joined the procurement programme:

• Kyiv region has purchased 41 buses;
• Dnipropetrovsk region – 34;
• Vinnytsia region – 30;
• Mykolaiv region – 25;
• Kharkiv region – 21;
• Zhytomyr region – 16;
• Lviv region – 14;
• Cherkasy region – 11;
• Khmelnytskyi region – 9;
• Volyn region – 8;
• Sumy region – 7;
• Kirovohrad region – 2;
• Odesa region – 1.

Renewal of the school fleet is a key infrastructure component of the School Offline policy implemented by the Ministry of Education and Science. Its goal is to provide students with the opportunity to study safely and comfortably in a face-to-face format.

“The Government has recently allocated a subsidy of UAH 215 million for the purchase of school buses and UAH 5 billion for school shelters. Prior to that, it allocated subventions of UAH 1 billion and UAH 2.5 billion respectively. These are the infrastructure solutions that allow our children to receive a better education by travelling to larger schools. It is also an opportunity to return to full-time education for children living in frontline communities and communities bordering russia. The enemy wants to deprive Ukraine of its future, so investing in education is very important today. We want to provide young Ukrainians with opportunities for learning and development despite the war,” said Andrii Stashkiv, Deputy Minister of Education and Science.

The procurement is carried out in the Prozorro Market e-catalogue in cooperation with the state agency Professional Procurement, which allows purchasing school transport as efficiently, competitively and quickly as possible.

“Last year, 531 school buses were purchased through Prozorro Market. It was a successful project. However, due to regular russian shelling and the destruction of infrastructure, the need for high-quality school transport is still very relevant. After all, children should study in schools with shelter and be able to get there without any problems. That is why the team of ‘Professional Procurement’ is making every effort to ensure that this year communities can also purchase the necessary transport for schoolchildren quickly, efficiently and competitively,” explains Yevhen Yakubovskyi, Director of the State Institution “Professional Procurement”.

Background

The school bus programme is implemented by the Ministry of Education and Science in cooperation with the Ministry of Economy through Prozorro Market and is part of the national policy ‘Made in Ukraine’ initiated by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.