Support schools are a mechanism for transferring rural children to better learning conditions, and the purchase of school buses is an integral part of creating opportunities for high-quality transportation of children - this was stated by the Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Liliya Hrynevych on May 6 at a conference call on urgent educational issues with representatives all regions of Ukraine.

In the state budget, 600 million hryvnias are planned for the purchase of school buses and 200 million hryvnias for equipping support schools, the Minister of Education and Science reported. The decision of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine determined that the purchase of buses should take place according to the principle of 50 % from the central budget, and the remaining 50 % from the local budget.

At the meeting, it was emphasized that not all regions currently fulfill their obligations on time. In particular, the Mykolaiv Region has already purchased 11 buses, and announced a tender for 16 more. Tenders have also been announced in Vinnytsia, Dnipropetrovsk, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Lviv, Sumy and Chernihiv regions. At the same time, the Volyn, Zhytomyr, Zaporizhzhya, Kherson, Khmelnytskyi, Ternopil, Luhansk, and Chernivtsi regions have not yet purchased or announced tenders for the purchase of school buses.

The minister reminded that primary schools will remain in each village, and support schools for middle and high school students should be formed first of all in united territorial communities. "The program for the creation of support schools is aimed at improving the quality of education in rural areas, and not at financing already overcrowded schools," the minister emphasized and added that by the end of May, the regions are expected to provide detailed detailed information on the creation of support schools.