Deputy Head of the Office of the President Oleksiy Kuleba chaired a meeting on School Nutrition Reform with the participation of First Lady Olena Zelenska. The meeting was attended by representatives of 21 Regional Military Administrations, as well as Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Oksen Lisovyi and Head of the School Nutrition Reform Team Orest Stepaniak.
During the meeting, the participants discussed the progress of the implementation of regional programs for the realization of the School Nutrition Reform Strategy until 2027. These regional programs were developed taking into account local specifics, based on the results of 19 regional forums held by the School Nutrition Reform Team.
"We often emphasize that this reform is a part of Ukraine's recovery. This is no exaggeration. After all, quality education and everything around it, including the ability to feed a child, is a condition for families and children to return home. If you have people, your communities will live. So, a lot of things start with a school lunch. If you feed children properly now, they will grow up to be healthy people. If we do a quality reform now, we will have a qualitatively better country in a few years," the First Lady said.
She encouraged regional representatives to make effective use of all opportunities and resources of the reform, from international to state ones.
Orest Stepaniak analyzed regional programs and presented a roadmap for their implementation.
Oksen Lisovyi reported on the use of state subvention for the establishment of canteens in secondary schools and "culinary hubs" – places where kitchen staff of educational institutions can improve their skills.