City of Tallinn hikes kindergarten meal support for 2023
The City of Tallinn is to raise the subsidy it provides for kindergarterners' meals by 50 percent for 2023. The subsidy is in addition to state school meals' support.
The maximum daily food allowance for preschool children for 2023 is set at €2.70 per day for children already in kindergarten, and €3.00 per day for children who will be in kindergarten from next year.
The cost of school meals for pupils in Tallinn's municipal secondary schools, as well as the Kopli Vocational School, will be €1.80 per day, in the new year.
Deputy Mayor Vadim Belobrovtsev (Center) said the city wants to support the livelihoods of residents in the face of rapidly rising prices.
"Over the past one-and-a-half years, prices of all materials have risen, and in order to ensure a tasty and varied diet for both kindergarten and school children, we will increase the subsidy for school meals and the limit for kindergarten meals from the new year, so that the daily cost of food due to price rises is in line with current prices."
"While we increased the subsidy for school meals in September this year, this has unfortunately not proven enough to provide quality food in the face of rising input material prices.
"Consequently, the city's subsidy for school lunches will rise to 80 cents from next year, which is almost the same as the state subsidy of €1, which in turn has remained at the same level for the last seven years," Belobrovtsev continued, via a city government press release.
Kindergarteners meals, in Tallinn, are provided free of charge, up to the limit set by the city administration, while if the daily cost of food approved by the nursery exceeds the limit, the difference is covered by the parent on a monthly basis.
Meanwhile the cost of school meals for Tallinn pupils will rise from €1.56 to €1.80 a day.
School meals will continue to be free of charge for both primary and secondary school pupils at schools run by the city.
The support covers the cost of school meals for a total of 46,706 pupils through the 2022/2023 academic year. The school meal provider will use at least 70 percent of their grant to purchase food and up to 30 percent in catering organization. In addition to the state subsidy, an additional €6.4 million is available in the city budget to cover the cost of school meals where needed, while additional funding of €3.14 million to cover the cost of food for children is also planned for in the 2023 City of Tallinn budget, the city says.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
