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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
From 1 September, free hot meals are provided to all students in 1–11 (12) grades of municipal schools who study in-person or in a blended format. The program covers about 3 million children; the state allocated over 7,4 billion UAH for its implementation in September–November. At the same time, expanding the program raised a number of practical issues for communities — in particular regarding the capacity of canteens, additional expenses, and organizing meals during air raid alerts. Ukrainska Pravda looked into how the new system works and what difficulties are arising locally.
How the program changed
The expansion of free meals happened gradually. At first, the state program was aimed primarily at primary school pupils, and since 2025 it was expanded to older grades in frontline regions.
From 1 September 2026, free hot meals were extended to all students in 1–11 (12) grades in municipal general secondary education institutions. This applies to children who study in-person or in a blended format.
The Ministry of Education and Science called this year’s expansion the final stage of scaling the program. Overall, 2026 allocated 14,4 billion UAH for it this year.
How much the state pays for meals
For primary school pupils the state provided 50 UAH per day for one child’s meals; for pupils in basic and upper secondary school — 60 UAH.
A different mechanism operates for certain frontline regions: for feeding primary school pupils the state directs 35 UAH as a subvention, and the UN World Food Programme adds another 15 UAH.
Not all costs are automatically covered by the state subvention. If meals are organized through catering or another model, costs for food preparation, logistics, and service may be funded from local budgets. The fixed co-financing scheme 70/30 was canceled, and communities were given the opportunity to determine their own level of funding depending on the chosen model and local conditions.
Will school canteens have enough capacity
One of the main questions for communities has been whether school kitchens can simultaneously feed a much larger number of children.
Previously, canteens were often designed to feed younger pupils or children who stayed in after-school groups. Now it’s necessary to organize meals for students of all grades.
This issue is highlighted by Oksana Prodan, adviser to the head of the Association of Ukrainian Cities. According to her, schools previously did not need to feed all students from first to eleventh grade at once.
“Previously we did not feed all children from first to 11-th grade in schools. Canteens are set up for a small number of kids, either for primary school or for after-school groups,” Prodan said.
The AUC emphasizes that for communities this means not only an increase in the number of portions. They need enough seats, staff, equipment, storage capacity for products, and delivery options.
Where to feed children if there aren’t enough seats
The Ministry of Education provided for the possibility of organizing meals not only in regular canteens. If a kitchen’s capacity or the number of seats is insufficient, food can be served in other school premises — in particular, classrooms, recreation areas, assembly halls, or shelters during an air raid alert, if sanitary requirements can be met there.
At the same time, the AUC believes that in practice this creates additional difficulties.
“We can’t feed children in sports halls. There’s no way to feed them there, and you have to store all these products and deliver them,” Prodan said.
According to the Ministry of Education, as of 1 September, 2023 kitchen units had already been modernized in Ukraine, and work was ongoing in another 272 institutions. 1 billion UAH is allocated for the modernization of school canteens in 2026.
What to do with food during an air raid alert
Another problem is related to wartime conditions. School cooks may start preparing food long before lunchtime, but because of an air raid alert children may move to shelters. If the alert is prolonged, parents sometimes take pupils home.
People’s Deputy Vitaliy Voitsekhovskyi drew attention to the practical side of this situation. He emphasizes that the issue is not with the idea of free meals itself, but with how the program should function in war conditions.
According to him, after food is prepared and an alert is announced the question arises of what to do with already prepared portions if children cannot come to the canteen. The deputy proposes providing compensation mechanisms or flexible funding that would take such situations into account.
Additional expenses fall on communities
Preparing for the program’s expansion requires local authorities not only to organize the meals themselves. Communities must address repairs and equipping of kitchens, purchase equipment, staffing, logistics, and other expenses.
This is especially felt in small communities where local budgets have much more limited financial capacities.
“We understand that all of this is the task of communities and it will be a huge, in fact a problem for absolutely all communities — from the smallest to the largest,” Prodan said.
She also emphasized that communities are simultaneously financing the equipping of shelters in schools and kindergartens, housing for internally displaced persons, and assistance to the Defense Forces. Therefore, additional expenses for organizing meals become a separate financial burden for local budgets.
Are schools ready for the new rules
The readiness of schools for the program’s expansion was discussed during the Ministry of Education’s meetings with community representatives. Main challenges named included insufficient seating in canteens, co-financing from local budgets, staffing canteens, procurement, and renovation of premises.
At the same time, the situation varies by region. For example, in the Lviv region communities assessed their capacities to expand the program even before the school year began. Problems mentioned included a lack of seats in canteens and additional workload for cooks.
In Rivne, school schedules were changed due to the expansion of free meals. In some institutions breaks were increased to 20 minutes so that all students would have time to eat.
In Ivano-Frankivsk region, after the launch of the new meal format schools had to reorganize their work. The first day under the new system required additional coordination between teachers, canteen staff, and class supervisors.
And in Chernivtsi, after a social media post about feeding students in 1–11 grades at one educational institution, an official investigation was launched. Other schools in the region will receive unscheduled monitoring visits. The reason was a post by the head of the Chernivtsi Regional Military Administration, Ruslan Osypenko, regarding the organization of student meals.
The education department explained that after the program was expanded to all students, the workload on school kitchens increased significantly. Now kitchen units must provide far more portions than before, which creates additional strain on cooks and the organization of the process itself.
Recall that Ukrainska Pravda previously wrote that from 1 September 2026 a number of changes affecting education, social payments, doing business, and reserving those liable for military service came into force in Ukraine. In particular, students received increased scholarships, teachers got higher salaries, and schoolchildren were provided with free hot meals.
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