Indonesia halts free school meals during holidays, scales back program

Indonesia is temporarily halting its flagship free meals program for children during upcoming school holidays and significantly scaling back its scope, citing the need to ease pressure on the state budget. The program, which provides meals to students, will stop from June 22 to July 13 and will be paused during future school breaks as well, according to Agustina Arumsari, deputy head of the National Nutrition Agency.

Arumsari stated that the agency will cease funding meals for approximately 39,000 students in 76 schools located in areas considered to have sufficient economic capacity to provide for nutritional needs. Instead, resources will be redirected to support students in more remote regions. This move is part of a broader reorganization and efficiency drive within the agency.

The adjustments come after a former head of the agency was arrested earlier this month on corruption allegations linked to the program. The government has pledged to improve governance and oversight following the incident. The budget allocation for the free meals program was already reduced this year to 268 trillion rupiah ($15.1 billion) from an earlier figure of 335 trillion rupiah.

Arumsari indicated that further cuts might be considered based on social and economic conditions. Kitchens serving a low number of recipients or failing to meet required standards could face closure. The agency also plans to reduce incentives for kitchens that close during school holidays, a move expected to save around 3.4 trillion rupiah.

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We think the figure is too big. With the budget we have, we can cut back and make it more efficient.