From September, meals for students in grades 5-11 in front-line areas will be free

From the beginning of the new school year in Ukraine, middle and high school students in front-line areas will be fed for free.

This was reported by the Minister of Education and Science Oksen Lisovyi during a telethon.

He noted that approximately UAH 800 million will be allocated from the state budget to local budgets to provide free meals to primary school students throughout the country and to students in grades 5-11 in front-line territories.

The UN World Food Program also previously allocated more than UAH 500 million, of which 118 million were distributed among Ukrainian communities for this purpose.

Lisovyi emphasized: if such nutrition is not set up, parents should contact the school management, regional military administrations, education departments, and directly the Ministry of Education and Science.

"We hope that communities will be able to organize such meals. We are confident in this, because communication about expanding the student contingent has been carried out for a long time. Communities are ready for this," Lisovyi emphasized.

• The school nutrition reform in Ukraine has been ongoing since 2020. The school menu has already been completely updated, the modernization of food units is underway — 210 of them will be updated during 2025, advanced training courses for cooks have been created, and a culture of healthy eating is being spread. The free nutrition program is also planned to be expanded to students in grades 5-6.

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