Constitutional Court Rules Free Nutritious Meal Programme Cannot Use Education Budget

The Constitutional Court (MK) has ruled that the education budget in the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN) can no longer be used to fund the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) programme. The decision was read out during a session at the MK Building in Central Jakarta on Thursday, partially granting the petition filed by the Taman Belajar (TB) Nusantara Foundation.

Chief Justice Suhartoyo stated that the MBG programme is not a core component of education and must therefore be separated from the operational education budget. “The programme’s budget must be separated and no longer be part of the education operational budget,” he said, adding that this separation must be implemented by the 2028 State Budget at the latest.

The petitioners had challenged the funding mechanism for the MBG programme under the 2026 State Budget Law, arguing it contradicted Article 31, paragraph (4) of the 1945 Constitution. This article mandates that the state allocate at least 20 percent of the national budget to education. The foundation contended that the phrase ‘prioritising’ in the Constitution means education funding should be a primary, non-transferable allocation, and that the MBG programme does not constitute a direct core component of educational provision.