The UN World Food Program will finance lunches for more than 60,000 Ukrainian schoolchildren
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The UN World Food Program signed agreements with 11 regions of Ukraine to support daily school lunches for more than 60,000 children in 420 schools.
This is reported by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.
During the 2023-2024 school year, WFP will finance 30% of daily hot lunches for students in grades 1-4. Funds received within the program will be used by schools to improve the quality of food or reduce the cost of lunches, which are covered by parents.
The support program will operate in schools in the following areas:
- of Kyiv;
- of Lviv;
- Zakarpattia;
- Ternopil;
- Khmelnytska;
- Chernihivska;
- Chernivtsi;
- Cherkasy;
- Mykolayivska;
- Odesa;
- Poltava.
| Photo: NewAfrica/Depositphotos |
Regions were chosen based on a number of criteria, including the level of food security and the number of internally displaced persons.
WFP supported the Ukrainian reform of school meals during the last academic year. Then the UN program financed the preparation of food for 12 thousand children in 58 schools of the Kyiv region. Support has been expanded this academic year.
We will remind you that the other day Ukraine presented the School Meals Reform Strategy approved at the end of October.
During the presentation, the Minister of Education and Science, Oksen Lisovyi, said that the state is trying to provide free healthy food to all students of grades 1-4 and children of privileged categories.
However, Ukraine currently lacks its own resources due to the number of such children: 650,000 students in grades 1-11 belong to the privileged categories, in particular, more than 223,000 children have the status of IDPs. Also, a new category of children – those who suffered from military operations – received preferential status.
The total costs of hot meals for children of these categories reach 13.87 billion hryvnias. That is why the support of donors and partners, in particular the UN World Food Program in Ukraine, is very important, the minister noted.
Read also: The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science told how they will reform school meals
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