"School Starter Kit": the state will provide funds to prepare first-graders for school

The government is developing a new program to support families with children. The goal is to create conditions under which families raising children receive state support precisely when and where they need it most.

Currently, the Ministry of Social Policy is preparing a comprehensive draft Law on Support for Families with Children.

At the same time, the government is already beginning to implement individual elements of the new system.

At the initiative of the President of Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers has adopted a resolution aimed at supporting families with children at the stage of preparing a child for school. This involves a new support tool called the "School Starter Kit."

Preparing a child for school is a significant additional financial burden for families. At this time, parents need to purchase a large number of new items – from notebooks to sports uniforms and shoes.

The "School Starter Kit" will help parents of future first-graders buy all the necessary school supplies, such as stationery, children's clothing, and footwear. The payment amount is 5,000 hryvnias per first-grader.

The payment will be transferred to one of the parents' bank cards with a special usage mode. This means the funds can only be spent on goods linked to specific merchant category codes – those under which retailers operate.

"The launch of the 'School Starter Kit' is a small part of the innovations aimed at creating conditions for Ukrainians to stay and work in Ukraine," said Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

"We strive to support families with children throughout the entire period of a child's upbringing – from birth until they become independent. The start of school life is undoubtedly a stage where such assistance is critically needed," noted Minister of Social Policy Oksana Zholnovych.

First-graders who have not yet found a family and are in institutions will also receive this assistance.

An important goal of this support is to encourage families raising children to remain in Ukraine. Therefore, the payment is provided on the condition that the child attends a Ukrainian school – within the country's territory.

The project was developed by the Ministry of Social Policy in collaboration with the Ministry of Digital Transformation and Diia, the Ministry of Education and Science, and the Pension Fund of Ukraine, with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine under the "Support to Diia Project", funded by Sweden, as well as the Swiss-Ukrainian DECIDE Project – "Decentralization for Democratic Education Development," implemented in Ukraine by a consortium including NGO DOCCU and the Zurich University of Teacher Education, with the support of Switzerland.