Borodianka will be one of three new places in Kyiv region where culinary hubs for school meals are being set up, along with Brovary and Bohuslav. The hubs are based at vocational schools. Borodianka is the only such site in Bucha district.

This was announced by the head of the Kyiv regional military administration Tymur Tkachenko.

The regional team joined a meeting of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities under the President on how communities are implementing the school meals reform. Tkachenko called it the largest reform in decades.

In Kyiv region we have built a system of hot meals for all schoolchildren — more than 200,000 children. During air raid alerts we have organised such meals for more than 120,000 people.

Tymur Tkachenkohead of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration

The reform in numbers

According to the administration, 155 school kitchens in the region have already been modernised. This year kitchens were repaired in 105 schools, and 16 more underwent major renovation.

Next come upgrades of 14 hub and 34 basic kitchens. Culinary hubs already operate in Boryspil, Bila Tserkva and Vasylkiv, and the region has already built a factory kitchen.

A factory kitchen for Vyshneve

Another reform site in the district is Vyshneve. A new factory kitchen is planned there: the community signed a memorandum in Bucha together with Vinnytsia, Sheptytskyi, Lebedyn and Zaporizhzhia.

The projects were selected by the Ministry for Development of Communities and Territories with support from the European Investment Bank. The five new factory kitchens will be able to feed about 181 schools and kindergartens, including in villages.

How it works in Bilohorodka

Bilohorodka Academic Lyceum No. 2 shows what the reform looks like in a school. Its kitchen block was rebuilt into a hub kitchen, and the canteen can seat up to 100 pupils at a time.

Yuliia Ocheretniuk, head of Bilohorodka Academic Lyceum No. 2, in the renovated canteenPhoto: Kyiv Regional Military Administration
Yuliia Ocheretniuk, head of Bilohorodka Academic Lyceum No. 2, in the renovated canteen

Water in the kitchen is heated by solar-powered boilers donated by the partner community of Lohmen in Germany. The renovation was co-funded from the local and state budgets.

The children like it — we can see they eat everything. Of course there are nuances: some are not keen on fish, some prefer vegetables. But on the whole, 90% of pupils are satisfied.

Yuliia Ocheretniukhead of Bilohorodka Academic Lyceum No. 2

The lyceum plans its menu for the whole school year. Every day the children get dairy products, vegetables and fruit, whatever the season.

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Schoolgirls having lunch in the canteen of Bilohorodka Academic Lyceum No. 2Photo: Kyiv Regional Military Administration
Schoolgirls having lunch in the canteen of Bilohorodka Academic Lyceum No. 2
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A free lunch for every pupil

The reform was launched on the initiative of First Lady Olena Zelenska. As Bucha City Council recalled, free lunches first went to primary school pupils, then to all schoolchildren in frontline regions.

This school year every child in a public school is to get a free hot lunch. Parents unhappy with the quality can contact the State Food and Consumer Service or the government hotline 1545.

As a reminder, the Makariv community was preparing school canteens for free hot meals back in the summer, and Vyshneve was moving ahead with its own factory kitchen project at the same time.

Nota bene

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