Free meals for middle school students of Moldova; Pupils to receive hot breakfast or food packages

Middle school students will benefit from free meals at schools starting from 1 September. Thus, pupils will be offered a hot breakfast or food packages. The way of implementation will be chosen by schools based on the capabilities of educational institutions, the size of the canteen and other technical parameters. The government will spend over 200 million lei for free meals in 2025 and authorities estimate that the new facility will enhance academic performance and reduce school absenteeism.

Minister of Education and Research Dan Perciun today said that almost 160,000 middle school students from over 1,000 educational institutions across the country would benefit from free meals.

“For us, this commitment is very important, because free nourishment of children has been scientifically proven in many countries to be a significant factor in enhancing academic performance and reducing school absenteeism. For many families, especially socially vulnerable ones, the provision of free meals is often an additional incentive for families to accept and encourage children to regularly attend school. We rely on this measure, in addition to the nutritional benefits it provides, to contribute to enhancing academic performance and reducing school absenteeism,” said Dan Perciun.

The way the free meals are organized will be individually chosen by each educational institution. In most cases, students will be offered a hot breakfast. However, students from the largest schools of the country will receive food packages.

“In most schools, hot meals will be provided, cooked at the institution, only the number of children due to be nourished will increase. But, at the same time, we will have a small number of institutions, around 50-60 of the largest schools in the country, where the number of children fed will increase by over 600-700 people and where the nourishment format will be food packages. We will not use the option of cooked products, but the one of certain products, which will be delivered already cooked to the education institution,” said the minister.

In the case of hot meals, the same menu approved for students in grades I-IV will be used, and the menu for food packages will be approved following public consultations. Subsequently, educational institutions will conduct the necessary tenders to procure food products and may eventually analyze technical details regarding the increase of production capacities.

At present, about 135,000 primary school children (grades I-IV) already benefit from free meals. Starting from September 1, the total number of beneficiaries will reach approximately 295,000 (or 118 per cent more).

Over 205 million lei have been budgeted for 2025 for the implementation of the new measure. The funds are directed to local authorities, who will be responsible for managing the process of nourishment in schools, ensuring compliance with quality standards and efficient distribution of resources. In 2026, the necessary resources for free nourishment of pupils will increase up to 600 million lei.

Decision-makers noted that parents would not pay anything for the students' meals and that the state would fully cover this cost. “The co-payment that is being mistakenly referenced by some sources only applies to kindergartens, where parents contribute 1/3 of the total cost of meals,” authorities said.

The decision regulating the process of organizing free meals for students was approved by the government today.