Odesa Oblast Will Receive the Largest Amount of Funding in the South for Free School Meals

The southern regions of Ukraine— Odesa, Mykolaiv, and Kherson —are receiving a state subsidy of 649.5 million hryvnia to provide free meals to schoolchildren. Odesa Oblast will receive the largest amount.

This information was published on the government portal.

Starting September 1, 2026, all students in grades 1–11 (12) at public schools will receive free hot meals. The Cabinet of Ministers has allocated 7.4 billion hryvnias in subsidies for this purpose.

According to the government, the funds are intended to provide free hot meals to students in general secondary education institutions who attend in person.

The allocation of the subsidy for the three southern regions is as follows:

• Odesa Oblast – 459.6 million hryvnias;
• Mykolaiv Oblast – 187.5 million UAH;
• Kherson Oblast – 2.4 million UAH.

Odesa Oblast received the largest amount among the southern regions—nearly twice as much as Mykolaiv Oblast and more than 190 times as much as Kherson Oblast.

The subsidy covers the needs of the region’s public schools, and students attending in-person classes are eligible for free meals.

The state will cover the cost of meals at a rate of 50 hryvnias per day for elementary school students and 60 hryvnias for middle and high school students.

Starting with the new school year, the mechanism for using the state subsidy has changed: it will cover only the purchase of food, while other expenses will be financed from the local community budget.

Earlier, Intent reported that the executive committee approved the reallocation of funds to provide free meals in Mykolaiv’s kindergartens. 60 million hryvnias will be allocated from the contingency reserve for this purpose.

It was also reported that the city will need an additional 40 million hryvnias to provide meals for schoolchildren from September 1 through January 1.

On July 9, city council members passed a resolution to allocate 60 million hryvnias for meals in kindergartens.

City council officials noted that the total funding requirement for meals in educational institutions exceeds 250 million hryvnias; currently, the budget allocates 122 million 474 thousand, with an additional 127 million 711 thousand hryvnias needed.

Ірина Глухова