Constitutional Court: Free Nutritious Meal Programme Must No Longer Use Education Budget by 2028 at the Latest

The Constitutional Court (MK) has partially granted a petition filed by the Taman Belajar (TB) Nusantara Foundation regarding the use of education funds within the 2026 State Budget (APBN) to fund the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) programme under the Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka administration.

The verdict was delivered during a session held at the Constitutional Court Building in Central Jakarta on Thursday afternoon. Chief Justice Suhartoyo, reading the court’s decision, stated, “The verdict: first, to partially grant the petitioners’ application.”

The Court ruled that education funds within the State Budget may no longer be used to implement the MBG programme. Suhartoyo explained that the MBG programme cannot be categorised as a primary component of education and, therefore, must be separated and should not be part of the operational budget for educational implementation.

The Court further mandated that the separation of the MBG programme budget from education funds must be implemented starting from the 2027 State Budget or, at the latest, by the 2028 State Budget. “For the State Budget in subsequent years, the budget for the MBG programme, which is not a primary component of education, must be separated or excluded from the operational budget for educational implementation, with such separation applying no later than the 2028 State Budget,” he stated.

Previously, the Taman Belajar (TB) Nusantara Foundation filed a material challenge against Article 22, paragraph (3) of Law Number 17 of 2025 concerning the 2026 State Budget. In their lawsuit, they argued that funding the MBG programme through the education budget in the 2026 APBN contradicts Article 31, paragraph (4) of the 1945 Constitution, which mandates that the education budget must constitute at least 20 per cent of the State Budget.

The petitioners argued that the phrase ‘prioritise’ in the 1945 Constitution implies that the education budget must be treated as a primary pillar of national fiscal policy and cannot be treated as a general budget subject to reallocation. Furthermore, they contended that the education budget allocation must be used directly for core educational needs, including the provision of infrastructure, improvement of learning quality, teacher welfare, and the equalisation of educational access.