December 23, 2025 | 12:05 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) for Public Communication and Investigation, Nanik Sudaryati Deyang, ensured that children are not forced to come to school to pick up free nutritious meals (MBG) during the holidays. The state-sanctioned free meals will resume during the school break, but the primary beneficiaries will be pregnant people, breastfeeding mothers, and toddlers.
"No one is forcing children on holiday to come to school to pick up MBG. If the school or parents do not want to accept it, that's fine also," Nanik said in an official statement on Tuesday, December 23, 2025.
During the school holiday period, public kitchens will provide options for beneficiary schools to request free nutritious meals if needed. The meals, she said, will be delivered in the form of dry food upon request, and students don't have to come collect it at school. "The parents or siblings can do so," she added.
Nanik said her agency understands the importance of regular fulfillment of children's nutrition, but respects the school holiday period. Therefore, the MBG distribution mechanism during the holidays is voluntary and adaptable. "Please do not twist it as if children are being forced to attend school during the holidays," she said.
Nanik also refuted the notion that the distribution of free meals during the holiday season was done to exhaust the budget. She claimed that significant savings had actually been made. With a budget of Rp71 trillion for MBG in 2025, BGN initially targeted 6 million beneficiaries, but over 50 millions have enjoyed the free nutritious meals.
According to Nanik, the budget savings occurred because many partners and foundations independently built MBG kitchens. With this scheme, the expenses incurred by BGN are focused on providing food, paying the staff, and operational costs. "The cost per MBG portion is around Rp15,000. This data can be checked at the Ministry of Finance," she said.
Nanik emphasized the government's commitment to ensuring that no Indonesian children lack nutritional intake. "Pak Prabowo's message is clear, not a single Indonesian child should be deprived of free nutritious meals, whether they are schoolchildren, children out in the streets, or children in Islamic boarding schools," she said.
Read: Prabowo's Free Nutritious Meal Program Continues Despite School Break
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