At the fourth plenary meeting of the XXVIII extraordinary session, deputies of the Lviv Regional Council supported an appeal to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine demanding that a separate subvention from the state budget be provided for the remuneration of cooks in general secondary education institutions.
The document recalls that from 1 September 2026 all pupils in years 1–11 must receive free hot meals. A total of UAH 14.4 billion has been allocated in the state budget for 2026 for the implementation of this programme. At the same time, cooks’ wages are currently paid from local budgets, which do not always have sufficient resources.
The appeal notes that the expansion of the school meals programme requires an increase in the number of staff in school kitchens and an improvement in their pay. Given communities’ limited financial capacity, this may lead to a shortage of cooks, increased workload for existing staff and difficulties in organising meals for schoolchildren.
The Lviv Regional Council proposes that the government introduce a separate targeted subvention from the state budget to pay the salaries of cooks and other school kitchen staff, as well as to fund additional staff positions and higher pay, taking into account the increased volume of work.
The appeal stresses that the success of the school meals reform depends not only on the modernisation of school kitchens and the provision of foodstuffs, but also on adequate staffing of educational institutions. Without resolving the issue of funding cooks’ work, deputies emphasise, achieving the reform’s objectives will be significantly more difficult.