Ministry of Education: Free Nutritious Meals Programme Boosts Vocational Students' Competencies
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (Kemendikdasmen) has stated that the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme is having a positive impact on student competencies and the relevance of vocational education through best practices at school-managed Nutrition Fulfilment Service Units (SPPG) run by vocational secondary schools (SMK).
One such example is the SPPG kitchen at SMK Perikanan dan Kelautan Puger in Jember Regency, East Java Province.
“Beyond improving community nutritional intake, this SPPG kitchen has also enhanced student competencies and introduced workplace culture directly to students, as they work alongside experts,” said the head of SMK Perikanan dan Kelautan Puger, Kuntjoro Basuki, in Jakarta on Friday.
He explained that the SPPG kitchen produces 3,000 MBG meal packages daily, distributed to all students from early childhood education through to primary and secondary levels, as well as toddlers, pregnant women, and breastfeeding mothers in the Puger Kulon area of Jember.
Notably, the SPPG kitchen involves several teaching factory (Tefa) units within the school, including the vannamei shrimp Tefa and the Agribusiness Fisheries Product Processing (APHPi) Tefa.
The SPPG kitchen also engages students in various tasks alongside 50 other workers drawn from the local community surrounding the school.
Remarkably, one of the SPPG kitchen’s investors is an alumnus who has built a successful career in Japan, whilst the vegetable supplier is also a graduate of the Agribusiness Fisheries Product Processing programme.
He added that through the SPPG kitchen, students are trained to calculate material requirements, processing times, durations, and the volume of products produced.
According to Kuntjoro, the SPPG kitchen has energised the APHPi Tefa, which has long served the community with processed nutritious food products, including the vannamei shrimp aquaculture Tefa as a supplier to the SPPG kitchen.
“In this SPPG kitchen, the APHPi Tefa and vannamei shrimp Tefa serve as the main kitchen suppliers, and the impact is that the Tefa production process — entirely carried out by Year 11 and 12 students as part of their productive subject practicals — has ultimately become more productive,” said Kuntjoro.
One Year 11 student at SMK Perikanan dan Kelautan Puger, Oktavian Ardiansyah, has experienced the direct benefits of the SPPG kitchen in improving his competencies and workplace readiness.
He said it had even indirectly helped him win the Student Competency Competition (LKS) at the Jember Regency level.
“With the MBG kitchen, my friends and I have become suppliers to the MBG kitchen for products such as meatballs, pudding, peeled shrimp, and peeled eggs, and this has had a tremendous impact on us. We have been able to learn and practise economic analysis, from break-even point calculations to cost of goods sold. It is as though we own the business ourselves, and it certainly makes us more prepared to enter the workforce in the future,” said Oktavian.