An additional 30 million lei will be allocated from the Chisinau budget to fund meals in public kindergartens next year. Interim education chief Viorica Negrei has told IPN this addition aims to cover the costs of the standard menu approved by the municipality.

Besides the budget supplement, food fees paid by the parents will also be increased by a third. Overall, this will raise the daily norm to 26-28 lei per child.

In early September, a survey by the Chisinau Public Health Center revealed that the kindergarten diets included too much bread and starchy food and very few fruits and vegetables, as some kindergartens failed to observe the standard menus. The blame was attributed to the scarce daily allotment of only 23 lei per kid.