JPPI on Constitutional Court Ruling on Free Nutritious Meals: Corrections Must Be Made Immediately

The Indonesian Education Monitoring Network (JPPI) has welcomed the Constitutional Court’s decision to partially grant a judicial review petition regarding the use of the education budget to finance the free nutritious meals (MBG) programme. The Court mandated that the MBG programme must be separated from the education budget starting in 2028. However, JPPI believes the separation should be implemented sooner. “This is an important victory for the protection of the education budget. However, we are disappointed because the correction is not required to start immediately with the 2027 state budget,” said JPPI National Coordinator Ubaid Matraji in a statement on Wednesday, 30 July 2026. According to Ubaid, a two-year transition period is too long and does not align with the substance of the Court’s own considerations. He stated that the ruling affirms the nutritious meals programme is not a core component of education. Therefore, the financing of the MBG must be separated and should no longer be part of the operational budget for education delivery. Ubaid argued that the government and the House of Representatives (DPR) still have time to adjust the posture of the 2027 state budget. In fact, in the considerations read out, the Court acknowledged that the process of drafting the 2027 state budget is still ongoing and that it would be better if the MBG budget were already separated from the education budget starting in the 2027 fiscal year. “So why is the government given room to wait until 2028? If the budget classification error has been declared today, the correction should also be made as soon as possible, not postponed for two years,” Ubaid said. He emphasised that the 2028 deadline is the latest limit, not a permit for the government to continue burdening the education budget. The government and the DPR must make the 2027 state budget the starting point for the total separation of MBG financing from the mandatory 20 per cent education budget. JPPI warned that every year of delay in separating the MBG will prolong the structural erosion of the education budget. Funds that should be used to abolish school fees, repair damaged buildings, improve teacher welfare, expand capacity, and handle out-of-school children will again be absorbed for daily food procurement. Ubaid said JPPI welcomes the ruling as a constitutional victory but does not want its implementation to be delayed. “The 2027 state budget must be the beginning of the separation of MBG from education funds. The government does not need to wait until 2028 to do what the Court has declared correct today,” he said. The Constitutional Court partially granted the petition in case number 40/PUU-XXIV/2026 regarding the judicial review of Law Number 17 of 2025 concerning the 2026 State Budget. The lawsuit was filed by the Taman Belajar Nusantara Foundation along with four citizens. The petitioners questioned the inclusion of the free nutritious meals project in the education budget as stipulated in Article 22 paragraph 3 of the 2026 State Budget Law. In its ruling, the Court stated that the provision contradicts the constitutional mandate. The Court declared that the MBG project can no longer be included in the definition of operational education delivery. Constitutional Justice Enny Nurbaningsih said the MBG project budget must be separated from the education budget in future state budgets. The Court emphasised that the budget separation is intended to safeguard the constitutional mandate regarding the mandatory spending of 20 per cent of the state budget on education. This separation, she said, also provides a strong legal basis for the implementation of the MBG project as a government priority programme. The Court stated that the separation of the MBG budget allocation from the education budget must be carried out no later than the 2028 state budget. “Or at the latest two years after this ruling is pronounced,” she said.