Education Minister: Free Nutritious Meals Programme Boosts School Attendance

Jakarta (ANTARA) — Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Abdul Mu’ti said the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme not only helps meet pupils’ nutritional needs but also encourages higher school attendance.

Speaking at a cooperation agreement signing between the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) and the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education recently, Mu’ti said the programme was helping to increase pupils’ attendance at school.

“There is a great deal of research, sir, on the link between MBG and children’s school attendance. Many children go to school because they will get a healthy, nutritious meal,” the minister said in a statement issued in Jakarta on Sunday.

He compared the programme’s appeal to Friday Berkah, a mosque activity that draws people in to receive food. Unlike that event, which takes place every Friday, however, MBG is held regularly on school days.

“I think it is similar to people coming to the mosque because of Friday Berkah, something like that. But this happens every day, not just every Friday,” Mu’ti said.

As well as encouraging attendance, Mu’ti said the programme could provide a means of instilling character education from an early age.

The programme’s implementation in schools can be used to build positive daily habits among pupils, including queuing in an orderly manner, maintaining cleanliness, praying before and after meals, and appreciating the food provided.

“We have drawn on many guidelines on how free nutritious meals can become a means of instilling character, values and habits in children — for example, how they queue and how they develop clean-living habits,” Mu’ti said.

These routines are expected to strengthen pupils’ character through simple activities carried out consistently at school.

He said records of MBG recipients in educational institutions had been integrated with the Basic Education Data (Dapodik) system. The integration is being further refined to ensure that beneficiaries are pupils officially registered in the education system.

“Data cooperation, which has already been integrated with Dapodik, ensures that all recipients are pupils officially recorded in our system, and we are continuing to improve it,” Mu’ti said.

BGN head Sudaryono praised the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education’s support for implementing MBG in educational institutions. “Thank you for the support from the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, and from the minister,” he said.

The support includes providing facilities such as washbasins, allocating dedicated time for the programme, and strengthening nutrition education through the school curriculum.