BGN Opens Possibility of Removing High School Students from Free Nutritious Meal Programme

The National Nutrition Agency (BGN) is currently evaluating the number of beneficiaries of the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) programme. The BGN has opened the possibility of removing senior high school (SMA) students from the list of MBG recipients. Deputy Head of BGN, Agustina Arumsari, said the step to reduce the number of MBG recipients is being taken so that the government’s nutritional intervention can reach a more specific and effective target. “The goal is how to achieve the indicators of this nutritional intervention’s objectives, but with more focused beneficiaries,” Agustina told reporters at the Parliament Complex, Senayan, Central Jakarta, on Monday, 15 June 2026. She explained that one group potentially removed from MBG recipients is students at the senior high school level, especially those attending elite schools or coming from affluent families. “For example, a simple example, for SMA perhaps they no longer need to be given MBG. Especially those SMAs where the children’s pocket money is already Rp100,000, Rp200,000. Perhaps the high-class ones no longer need it,” she said. Agustina noted that based on BGN’s internal calculations, this removal could reduce the number of recipients by up to 8 million people. It was previously reported that Head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN), Nanik S Deyang, said her agency would refocus the beneficiaries of the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) programme. Through this refocusing, Nanik mentioned that wealthy schools would likely no longer receive MBG. “This refocusing means, is it necessary? It feels unnecessary if, for example, wealthy schools, because surely at home their nutrition is also better,” Nanik told reporters at the Presidential Palace Complex, Central Jakarta, on Tuesday, 9 June 2026. Nanik explained that BGN will focus on ensuring MBG is received by beneficiaries who truly need it. “So we will direct it more towards children or beneficiaries who genuinely require nutritional intervention,” she clarified. “So we will refocus, whether the current 63 million truly need it, or whether it can actually be reduced, and then we will add those who have not yet received it,” Nanik continued.