Students at Banda Aceh Special School Enjoy Free Nutritious Meals, Leave Notes Requesting Menu Items

The Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme has brought a new dimension to life for pupils at the YPAC Foundation Special School for Deaf Children in Banda Aceh. As well as encouraging them to learn, it has prompted amusing moments, including students slipping notes onto their meal trays to request particular dishes.

When detikcom visited the school on Thursday (15 October 2026), older pupils were seated neatly in the dining room, waiting for their teachers to distribute the food.

Before eating, the pupils said a prayer together. That day’s menu consisted of steamed rice, balado prawns, egg and bananas.

The dining room was lively despite the absence of spoken conversation. The pupils’ fingers moved as they exchanged sign language, interspersed with laughter and jokes as they ate.

Rahmanita, head of the YPAC Banda Aceh special school, said it had been receiving the free meals for almost two years. The school has 72 pupils from kindergarten to senior high school, as well as 26 education staff, and receives 102 portions each day.

“Thank God, we have been receiving this free meal programme for nearly two years, and the children are very enthusiastic and happy,” Rahmanita said at the school on Thursday (15 October 2026).

Rahmanita said she had observed a change in her pupils’ motivation to learn since they began regularly receiving nutritious food at school, particularly during sports activities.

“There has been a lot of improvement, especially in sports. Their stamina has increased, so they are more enthusiastic about learning,” she said.

However, Rahmanita said the school had to make a small adjustment to its daily timetable, as lessons now begin slightly later because pupils eat together first.

“There has been a lot of improvement in their focus on learning, but the time we start lessons has shifted slightly because they have to eat together in class before continuing with their studies,” she added.

Unlike the arrangements needed for autistic pupils, who may require strict dietary routines, all the pupils at the YPAC Banda Aceh school are deaf. This makes it easier to coordinate menus with the catering kitchen.

“All our children are deaf; none are autistic, so there are not many difficulties with the menus. The kitchen also regularly checks with us about which foods would be safe for the children,” she said.

Rahmanita said pupils often expressed their food preferences by writing on their meal boxes. Their requests sometimes concerned the size of the fruit portion.

“Once, they wrote on the meal tray themselves. The fruit varies, and perhaps the oranges were a bit small that day, so they wrote, ‘Make the oranges bigger.’ Thankfully, the kitchen is very open to feedback from the children,” she said.

Rahmanita added that the nutritious meals eased the burden on parents, most of whom come from low-income households. Many pupils living in the school dormitory come from areas outside Banda Aceh, including Takengon and Meulaboh.

“Many of the parents here are from low-income backgrounds. Many of those whose children live in the dormitory are farmers. As the dormitory is now independently managed, this food assistance is a great help in enabling them to stay in school,” she said.

The school distributes meals in two ways: junior and senior high school pupils eat together in the dormitory dining room, while kindergarten and primary pupils eat in their own classrooms.

Pupils who have already eaten breakfast at home sometimes save their fruit to take home. They want to show their families what they received at school or share it with a younger sibling.

Rahmanita acknowledged that some pupils were initially hesitant to eat the meals. However, they are now able to enjoy the nutritious food safely.

“At first, some were afraid because they often saw reports in the media. We explained that the food was hygienic, healthy and good for learning. Now the children are very comfortable with it; every morning they even ask the teachers, ‘What’s on the menu today?’” Rahmanita added.