BGN Affirms That Claims of Students Forced to Attend School for Free Nutritious Meals During Online Learning Are Hoaxes!

Jakarta – The National Nutrition Agency (BGN) has addressed claims that students engaged in online learning would be forced to come to school to participate in the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme.

Deputy Head of BGN for Operational Nutrition Fulfilment, Sony Sonjaya, stated that the issue is untrue or a hoax.

He explained that the agency has not yet prepared or discussed technical guidelines for distributing MBG during online learning.

“To date, the government itself has not decided on a policy for online learning for schoolchildren,” said Sony, quoted from ANTARA on Wednesday, 25 March 2026.

Sony added that the implementation of the MBG programme so far still follows the mechanisms in place at schools during face-to-face teaching and learning activities.

He also urged the public not to easily believe information with unclear sources, especially those circulating on social media. Every official policy related to MBG will be directly communicated by BGN through credible communication channels.

BGN is also committed to ensuring the programme runs according to standards, both in terms of nutritional quality and distribution governance, so that its benefits are truly felt by students across Indonesia.

“If there is a new policy in the future, including in online learning situations, it will certainly be thoroughly reviewed and officially announced,” he said.

Previously, rumours circulated that student learning would return to online mode as part of fuel savings efforts, but the government has not officially announced such a policy.

Deputy Chair of Commission X of the Indonesian House of Representatives, MY Esti Wijayanti, expressed disagreement with the idea of reverting school activities to online learning starting April 2026 for efficiency or energy-saving strategies by the government.

Drawing from COVID-19 experiences, she stated that online learning strategies are less effective for school students. She said the policy discourse needs deeper examination.

“We implemented online learning during the COVID-19 outbreak. And we all know that system left problems that are not simple for our education world,” said Esti.