"School Starter Kit" program: payment start and the general information for families and business

Payments of the "School Starter Kit" program have started, the total amount is 430 million hryvnias – 86,000 Ukrainian families have received them to prepare their children for school. Generally, the state will allocate 1,2 billion hryvnias, this assistance is intended for every first-grader.

Meanwhile, almost 110,000 families have applied for the "School Starter Kit" program, 102,000 of them have already been verified. The Ministry of Social Policy, Family and Unity reminds who can join this program and how a business can take part in it.

Who is eligible for the "School Starter Kit"?

The child of each family who starts the first grade of a Ukrainian school can receive financial support of 5,000 hryvnias under the "School Starter kit" state program. Any parent or other legal representative of the child can apply for and receive assistance.

There are no restrictions on the form of education – pupils who will start studying online can also receive assistance.

Meanwhile, according to the program's conditions, families abroad can receive assistance after returning to Ukraine, and families located in temporarily occupied territories can receive it after returning to Ukraine-controlled territory.

Why may only families of first-graders receive this assistance?

The state strives to support the families at the start of their children’s education and to make this stage comfortable and provide first-graders with all necessary items.

The "School Starter Kit" is an element of the new comprehensive state program to support families with children. Recently, The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has adopted in first reading the relevant bill that the Ministry of Social Policy designs. Moving forward, social support will cover a wide range of families with children.

How may you apply for the program?

It’s so easy - an ID card is available in the Diia app or you can contact the nearest center of the Pension Fund of Ukraine. A majority of Ukrainians choose online applications – nowadays, 105,000 applications are submitted through the mobile app Diia. Don’t forget to update the app if you have not done it yet.

You may also receive a push notification about the opportunity to apply.

Follow the link to get the detailed instructions.

In general, the program will run until November 15, 2025, allowing all families sufficient time to apply. Even if the child will start studying in the first grade after the beginning of the academic year, the assistance will be provided.

What documents do you need?

You need to have an ID-card in the app Diia, an International Passport, and an Individual Taxpayer Number to apply online. Diia must sign the application for the service. Signature, so one of the biometric documents must be displayed in the app.

If you submit a written application to the service of the Pension Fund of Ukraine, you need to present:

• passport or another document that certifies your identity;
• individual Taxpayer Number (if you have it);
• documents that confirm the authority of the legal representative (if necessary)

What do you need to do, if the service is unavailable?

It can happen if your data has failed or has not yet been entered into the system.

During enrollment of a child in an educational institution her/his data must be entered into modernized EMIS 2 (Education Management Information System) – it is the only source for confirming the fact of enrollment of a child in the first grade.

So, make a request to the school to check whether the information about your first-grader has been entered and if his/her and your first and last name are correct. Maybe there is some information about your older children in the system. The educational institution should also check whether the individual Taxpayer Number of the parents or other legal representatives has been transferred from the state registers to EMIS 2 (Education Management Information System). If this data is missing, it should be provided to the school for entry.

If the mobile app Diia displays "Information about you and your child has not yet been entered into the Education Management Information System or has been entered incorrectly", you need to contact the school and ask them to enter information about you and your child in EMIS 2 (Education Management Information System).

And if "The school may have made a mistake by entering the wrong last name or first name" it means that there is information about you and your child in the system, but the full name is incorrect. Check this information at school and provide your correct full name, like in your passport in the mobile app Diia.

If you have updated your data, please wait two days and try submitting your application again. It applies not only to online applications: to submit a written application to the service of Pension Fund of Ukraine, your data must already be entered to EMIS 2 (Education Management Information System). A paper certificate of enrollment in school of your child is not an alternative.

What is the term for transfer of funds?

After submitting an application and its verification, the payment will be sent to your Diia.Card or to the card that is issued upon application to the service center of Pension Fund of Ukraine within 14 days. The first payments within the program have already started – in late August more than 86,000 families have received them.

You can apply for assistance and receive it after the beginning of the academic year, until November 15th, 2025. You can use these funds within 180 days from the moment of the transfer, so you can spend them later.

What can the funds be spent on and where?

They can be used to purchase goods to prepare a child to school, in particular: school supplies, children’s clothing and footwear. Purchases can be made in both ways: in offline and online stores, but the payment can only be made by bank transfer.

To check whether you can use the money under the "School Starter Kit" program, please provide the information to the store representatives. Additionally, many establishments will also have informational materials confirming their participation in the program.

How can you use a split payment using the Diia.Card in the "School Starter Kit" program?

If the store supports the split payments by Diia.Card, you can pay with your own funds from a current account of Diia.Card.

How may a business join the "School Starter Kit" program?

The program does not provide for a separate mechanism for "registration" participants – participation is open for all stores related to the field of activity" Trade in school supplies (stationery), children's clothing, and footwear."

Parents can use these funds at any point of sale throughout Ukraine where a payment terminal has an MCC-code (Merchant category code) that meets the conditions of the state program:

5641 – children’s clothing;

5651 «Лісова поляна» – clothing for the whole family;

5661 – shoe stores;

5943 – stationery.

And because of that, parents get the freedom of choice and can buy essentials for their child wherever it is convenient for them.

May Sole Traders with appropriate KVEDs (Classification of Economic Activities або Classification of Types of Economic Activity) to be joined to the program?

The "School Starter Kit" program is also open to sole traders. If an entrepreneur has a terminal that is configured to MCC-code that is included in the list of permits within the program, then parents will be able to pay for their goods. In other words, everything depends on the terminal settings; it does not depend on the entrepreneur's formal participation. It allows a wide range of stores to be involved in the program without excessive bureaucracy, and it lets parents make their purchases wherever it is convenient for them.

May non-specialized marketplaces and stores be joined to the program?

Yes, it is possible. It is open to the large marketplaces and department stores. The main condition is that their payment terminals must be configured to MCC-codes that meet the conditions of the program. So parents will be able to use the funds to purchase children's clothing, footwear, stationery, and other necessary items in these chains of stores. It means that participation in the program does not require any additional procedures and depends on whether the terminal's MCC-code settings meet the requirements of the "School Starter Kit" program, on condition of following the rules of the acquiring Bank and the payment systems.

The project is implemented on the initiative of the President of Ukraine and developed by the Ministry of Social Policy, Family and Unity of Ukraine in partnership with the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and Diia, Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and the Pension Fund of Ukraine, supported by United Nations Development Programme in Ukraine within the DIA Support project that is implemented and funded by Sweden, Swiss-Ukrainian DECIDE Project – ‘Decentralization for Improved Democratic Education’, which is being implemented in Ukraine by consortium within the public organization DOCCU and the Zurich University of Teacher Education supported by Sweden.