Odesa City Council Approves ₴20M for Improved School Meals Access

Deputies of the Odesa City Council supported the draft decision on changes in school meals financing.

This was discussed at a session on April 16 broadcast by Intent.

During the consideration of the draft, Mayor Hennadii Trukhanov emphasized that about 20 million hryvnias are needed to provide schoolchildren with meals.

MP Olha Kvasnytska suggested speeding up the launch of food units directly in schools so that meals could be prepared on site and be fresh and tasty.

"I see how this food is brought in these vessels. And you realize that the mashed potatoes that are heated are not tasty. And my child says that she doesn't eat anything there. It's a waste of money. And I didn't want extra money to be spent from the budget. We need to make it tasty. Therefore, in order to make it tasty, we need to make the food blocks work," she said.

Director of the Department of Education Olena Buynevych assured that the number of canteens in schools will increase. Instead of imported food, they are returning to cooking directly in educational institutions.

"When we receive packaged food, we have to spend extra time heating it up. We don't have microwaves everywhere. That is why we are increasing the number of catering units that can cook on their own," the official replied.

Buynevych informed that by the beginning of the new school year, 75% of educational institutions will have their own canteens. But, according to the director of the department, there is a shortage of cooks.

Intent has already written that the cost itself will not be changed, but only the meals for children from privileged categories will be separated from those who are not. This is being done because the state subvention for feeding children in the city is running out, and it is not allowed by law not to feed the privileged ones.

45 deputies were in favor, no one abstained, no one was against, and 2 did not vote. The decision was adopted.

Earlier in Odesa, deputies approved the cost of meals for primary school children in the city's schools.

Ірина Глухова