Free Nutritious Meal Programme Budget to Be Separated from Education Budget Starting 2028

Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Abdul Mu’ti has announced that the budget for the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) programme will begin to be separated from the education budget starting in 2028. This follows the Constitutional Court (MK) Decision Number 40/PUU-XXIV/2026. Mu’ti stated that his ministry has held joint meetings with several related ministries and agencies regarding the budget separation. Based on these meetings, the separation will be implemented starting in 2028. “So in the joint meeting with other ministries, we received information that the implementation will begin in 2028 and students will continue to receive the meals,” he said at the Parliament Complex in Senayan on Friday. He explained that components of the MBG programme not related to students would be separated from the education budget. However, he could not yet provide detailed explanations regarding the budget separation. “For MBG, the budget submission is not with us; the budget submission is with the National Nutrition Agency, not with us. Because the status of MBG is that this ministry is merely a recipient, a recipient and a partner in implementation, but not in budgeting,” Mu’ti stated. Previously, the Constitutional Court partially granted a petition filed by the Taman Belajar Nusantara Foundation and five individual petitioners who were testing the constitutionality of the Elucidation of Article 22 paragraph 3 of the 2026 State Budget Law. Decision Number 40/PUU-XXIV/2026 was read out in a ruling session held on Thursday, 30 July 2026. During the session, Chief Justice Suhartoyo partially granted the petitioners’ request. The ruling stated that the Elucidation of Article 22 paragraph (3) of Law Number 17 of 2025 concerning the 2026 State Budget does not conflict with the 1945 Constitution and has conditionally binding legal force as long as it is interpreted to apply only to the 2026 State Budget. “Therefore, for the State Budget in subsequent years, the budget for the nutritious meal programme that is not a main component of education is separated or not part of the operational budget for education provision, and this separation applies no later than the 2028 State Budget or a maximum of two years since this decision was pronounced,” the ruling stated.