Free Meals for Students in Frontline Regions Starting September 2025

Starting in September 2025, not only primary schools, but also all students in grades 5-11 in frontline and border regions will receive free meals.

This was reported by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.

The report says that starting in September 2026, the program is expected to extend to grades 5-6 in all regions of Ukraine.

In the following years, the program will gradually expand to other grades throughout the country.

"One of the goals of the Ministry is to create a safe educational environment in educational institutions. Thanks to the gradual expansion of the program, even more Ukrainian students will be able to receive healthy and nutritious meals in educational institutions free of charge," said Andriy Stashkiv, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine.

To implement the program, it is also necessary to address key challenges in the infrastructure of canteens and food service units in educational institutions, according to the Ministry of Education and Science. Among them:

• renovate school canteens;
• modernize canteens by purchasing new equipment for cooking healthy meals;
• create training programs and culinary hubs where cooks can improve their skills;
• create an effective motivational model for attracting specialists to work in the field of school catering;
• strengthen food quality control by introducing new safety and food standards.

Intent wrote that the monopoly enterprise Fabryka Smaku continues to receive contracts for catering in schools in Odesa and the region without auctions.

Two new tenders have recently been completed in the Prozorro system, where the company was the only participant and winner.

The first tender, announced by Odesa Lyceum No. 13, involves catering for 265 primary school students and 115 children from privileged categories. The total amount of the contract is over UAH 8.7 million.

The second contract concerned the organization of meals for privileged pupils in schools in Odesa Oblast. The customer was the education department of the Nerubay village council, and the procurement amount was over UAH 11.3 million.

Both procurements were conducted in the format of open bidding with special features that provide for shortened deadlines for submitting applications and appealing. There was only one bidder, Fabrika Smaku LLC, which won the tender.

Ігор Льов