BGN to Refocus Free Nutritious Meal Programme, Senior High School Students May Be Excluded
The National Nutrition Agency (BGN) will focus the recipients of the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) programme on groups deemed most in need of nutritional intervention, such as pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, toddlers, and early childhood children.
Deputy Head of BGN Agustina Arumsari stated that senior high school students, particularly those from affluent backgrounds, may no longer be targeted by the programme. This policy shift is estimated to reduce the number of beneficiaries by approximately eight million and lower budget requirements.
“The goal of this programme is to ensure the nutritional intervention indicators are achieved, but with more focused beneficiaries. For example, perhaps senior high school students no longer need to be given MBG, especially those whose pocket money is already Rp100,000 to Rp200,000, the high-class ones. That is one example, and it will reduce the number of beneficiaries by about eight million,” she said after a meeting with Commission IX of the House of Representatives (DPR RI) in Jakarta on Monday.
She emphasised that, based on discussions with the Ministry of Health, the most appropriate nutritional intervention occurs during the first 1,000 days of life, when the human brain is developing optimally. “Nutritional intervention should be carried out from the gestational period through the first 1,000 days after birth, so that brain volume can reach its maximum, followed by nutritional fulfilment up to the age of two,” she explained.
“This refocusing is necessary so that the government’s intervention is more targeted, which will automatically be followed by a reduction in the budget allocated to beneficiaries,” she added.
After reorganising the beneficiaries, BGN will focus on restructuring the management of the Nutrition Fulfilment Service Units (SPPG), or MBG kitchens. Currently, the budget reorganisation is concentrated solely on reducing the number of recipients.
“This also includes the issue of kitchen quality, because it is unreasonable to expect high-quality output if the kitchens do not comply with proper cooking flow standards and so forth. That will be one of the impacts of the refocusing,” she elaborated.
Internally, she continued, BGN will also undertake a transformation, ranging from human resources improvements to the governance of MBG kitchens. “So please be patient. We have conveyed our targets for the next one month and the next three months. Clearly, we are also taking advantage of the school holiday period. We will halt all operations and audit all kitchens, so that hopefully when children return to school, conditions on the ground will be better and more orderly,” Agustina concluded.