Why Indonesia Halts Free Meal Distribution to 80 Elite Private Schools

Why Indonesia Halts Free Meal Distribution to 80 Elite Private Schools

Reporter

August 29, 2026 | 03:53 pm

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The National Nutrition Agency (BGN) has removed 80 elite private schools from the list of recipients of the free nutritious meal (MBG) program. According to BGN head Sudaryono, the decision is part of the agency’s MBG overhaul by re-evaluating the beneficiaries in various regions.

Private schools deemed capable of fulfilling the students’ nutritious meals independently will no longer receive the state-sanctioned free meals. “We have excluded about 80 private schools from receiving the free nutritious meals,” Sudaryono said in an official statement on Saturday, August 29, 2026.

Some of these include boarding schools, including the semi-military Taruna Nusantara High School and Kemala Bhayangkari School.

The status of MBG recipients, Sudaryono explained, is available to check through the MBG Radar by entering the school name.

The BGN evaluation also unveiled another MBG-related issue: free meal beneficiary target duplicates, with approximately 6 million data overlaps. The data overlaps occur, for example, when a student is registered in both an Islamic boarding school and a public school.

Besides the targets of the program, BGN also reviewed the budget distribution to MBG kitchens. The agency found 414 not-yet-operational kitchens receiving funds. BGN has since withdrawn these funds and returned Rp311 billion to the state treasury.

Sudaryono said these reviews were conducted as part of the evaluation of the MBG budget absorption. The government previously earmarked Rp240 trillion for the 2027 MBG budget. The budget cut had been attributed not only to the removal of elite private schools from the list of recipiencts, but by correcting the student data and streamlining the fund distribution to the kitchens.

He stated that BGN is still reviewing the data and budget distribution of the MBG program to ensure that the funds are used according to their intended purpose.

Read: How Far Along Is Indonesia’s Food Spoilage Scanner for Free Meals?

Click here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News