Payments have begun in Ukraine under the state program ‘School Package’, which provides financial assistance to families of first graders. The first 86,000 families have already received funds totaling over 430 million hryvnias to prepare their children for school. In total, the state will allocate 1.2 billion hryvnias for this initiative in 2025, covering every first grader without exception.
This is reported by Finway
Conditions for Receiving Assistance and Application Process
The ‘School Package’ program allows each family with a child entering the first grade of a Ukrainian school this year to receive a one-time payment of 5,000 hryvnias. The application for assistance can be submitted by one of the parents or another legal representative of the child. Importantly, the program does not impose restrictions on the format of education – payments are available for those studying remotely, as well as for students in both public and private schools.
Families currently abroad will be able to receive financial support upon their return to Ukraine. For those in temporarily occupied territories, the payment will be available after returning to areas controlled by Ukraine.
Applications for assistance can be submitted online through the Diia app or offline at the Pension Fund of Ukraine service center. For online applications, it is necessary to have an ID card or a foreign passport in Diia and a verified tax number. Signing is done using Diia.Sign, so one of the biometric documents must be in the app. For offline applications, it is required to provide a passport or another identity document, a tax number (if available), and documents confirming the authority of the child’s legal representative (if necessary).
As of the end of August 2025, 105,000 applications have already been submitted through Diia. The total number of applications submitted for participation in the program reaches nearly 110,000, of which 102,000 have already been verified.
Use of Funds and Opportunities for Businesses
The payment is credited to the Diia.Card or to a card opened at the PFU service center within 14 days after the application is submitted and verified. It is possible to apply for and receive assistance even after the start of the school year – the program is active until November 15, 2025, and if a child is enrolled in the first grade after classes have started, support is still provided.
The funds received can be spent within 180 days from the moment of crediting on the purchase of items for preparing the child for school – school supplies, children’s clothing, or footwear. Purchases can be made in both online and offline stores, but payment must be cashless.
Participation in the program is open to businesses: it is sufficient to have a payment terminal with the appropriate MCC code. Purchases of goods under the state program are possible in stores with the following codes:
- 5641 – children’s clothing
- 5651 – clothing for the whole family
- 5661 – shoe stores
- 5943 – stationery
“The ‘School Package’ program is also open to individual entrepreneurs. If a business has a terminal set up with an MCC code that is included in the list of allowed codes under the program, then parents will be able to pay for goods there. In other words, it all depends on the terminal’s settings, not on the formal participation of the entrepreneur,” the ministry added.