School lunches will be inspected throughout Ukraine
Prime Minister Serhiy Koretsky has ordered an urgent review of how meals are organized for students in grades 1 through 11 in schools. The State Service for Food Safety and Consumer Protection, together with the relevant ministries, will conduct the inspections, and the Ministry of Education and Science is also tasked with gathering feedback from parents.
Following the start of the new school year, Ukraine decided to conduct a separate review of how schools have organized meals for children. Prime Minister Serhiy Koretsky has ordered these on-site inspections. The State Food and Consumer Service, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Economy and Environment, and the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food will be involved in this effort.
This concerns meals for students in grades 1–11. Experts are to verify how this process is organized in schools and whether it meets established requirements. Koretsky emphasized that the government has allocated funds for school meals. Therefore, he said, children should receive high-quality lunches at every school. “The government has allocated the necessary funding to ensure that children at every school, without exception, receive high-quality lunches,” the prime minister stated.
What exactly will be inspected
The inspections will be conducted on-site. In other words, this involves not only reviewing reports from schools or local authorities but also verifying how meal service is organized in practice. Particular attention will be paid to any issues that may have arisen during the organization of school lunches. The government wants to get a realistic picture of how the system is functioning after its launch.
If violations or other problems are identified during the inspections, they must be corrected without delay. “All identified problems must be addressed without delay,” Koretsky emphasized. Thus, the government does not expect inspections merely for the sake of inspections. The identified shortcomings should serve as the basis for specific changes in schools.
Parents will be involved in the inspections
The Ministry of Education and Science has been assigned a separate task. It must gather feedback from parents regarding the organization of school meals. This is important because parents and students see firsthand how the system works in practice every day. They can report problems that are not always apparent during a routine document review.
Specifically, this includes whether children receive their lunches on time, whether there is enough food, how well the meal service is organized, and whether any other issues arise. The Ministry of Education and Science must not only collect such reports but also ensure that they are addressed. “I have also instructed the Ministry of Education to collect feedback from parents and ensure an appropriate response,” the prime minister said.
Free Meals for Schoolchildren
The issue of school meals has become one of the government’s priorities ahead of the start of the new school year. The government has announced plans to expand opportunities to provide children with free lunches. In 2026, 14.4 billion hryvnias are allocated for school meals. Additionally, 83.6 million hryvnias were allocated to support communities in organizing free hot meals for elementary school students in eight frontline regions.
Earlier, Koretsky also emphasized that in areas where the security situation prevents the provision of full-course hot meals, children should receive ready-to-eat meals. Therefore, the issue now goes beyond the mere availability of funding. It is important that the allocated funds actually translate into proper nutrition for children in specific schools.
What’s Next
In the near future, the relevant agencies are to conduct inspections at schools and gather information about meal-related issues. At the same time, the Ministry of Education and Science is to collect feedback from parents. This will allow for a comparison of official data with what families experience in practice.
If the shortcomings are confirmed, they must be addressed without delay. The government expects that, as a result of the inspections, students will receive high-quality meals regardless of which school they attend. For parents, this is also an opportunity to report any issues if the school’s meal program does not meet expectations or if other difficulties arise. He announced this on his Telegram channel.
On September 1, 2026, Ukraine launched the final phase of scaling up the state program for free hot meals, which has been extended to all students in grades 1–11 (12) at public schools offering in-person and blended learning formats.
