More than ₴393 million will be required to provide school meals for children in schools and nurseries in Mykolaiv in 2027

Pupils at a school in Mykolaiv having lunch. Photo: NikVesti

In 2027, it is planned to spend over ₴393 million on school and nursery meals in Mykolaiv. The majority of this sum — ₴236 million — is expected to be covered by the city budget.

This was reported by the Mykolaiv City Council’s Department of Education in response to an information request from NikVesti.

According to the department’s preliminary calculations, the total cost of school meals in 2027 will amount to 393 million 45 thousand hryvnias.

Of this amount, the plan is to source:

• 236.1 million hryvnias — from the Mykolaiv budget;
• 141.2 million hryvnias — from the state budget;
• 15.8 million hryvnias — from parental contributions.

The largest share of funding is earmarked for schoolchildren’s meals — 213.7 million hryvnias. Of this, 140.5 million hryvnias are expected to come from the state budget, with a further 73.2 million hryvnias from the city budget.

173.3 million hryvnias are required for meals for nursery school children. The bulk of this sum — 157.5 million hryvnias — is planned to be covered by the city budget. A further 15.8 million hryvnias will come from parental contributions.

A separate sum of 6.1 million гривень is required for meals for children at a special secondary school for children with visual impairments. Of this, 5.4 million гривень will come from the city budget, and around 682,000 гривень from the state budget.

By way of comparison, in 2026 the total cost of providing meals for children in schools and nurseries in Mykolaiv amounts to 370.5 million hryvnias. Consequently, next year approximately 22.6 million hryvnias more will be required to meet these needs.

At the same time, the Department of Education has reported that there are sufficient funds to provide meals for children until the end of 2026. They noted that pre-school and general secondary education institutions in Mykolaiv are fully funded to organise meals for this year.

It should be recalled that in May 2026, it emerged that Mykolaiv’s budget was short of nearly 150 million hryvnias to provide meals for children in schools, nurseries and vocational colleges until the end of 2026. The City Council’s Education Department stated that funds for meals in nurseries would only last until 20 June.

Subsequently, 60 million hryvnias were allocated for meals in kindergartens. This money was expected to last until October.

However, according to the Education Department’s calculations, the city would need a further nearly 150 million гривень by the end of the year: over 109 million hryvnias for nurseries, over 33 million hryvnias to co-fund school meals, and a further 7 million hryvnias for special schools and vocational education institutions.

However, the city council acknowledged that such funds were not available in the budget. Consequently, the city was preparing an appeal to the Verkhovna Rada and the Cabinet of Ministers requesting an additional state subsidy.