JAKARTA – Like last year, the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) plans to continue its flagship free meal program during Ramadan, which officially begins today, despite the fact that most students in Muslim-majority Indonesia will be fasting throughout school hour.
To accommodate the shift in timing, the agency has introduced several adjustments, such as distributing non-perishable items like bread and biscuits for students to consume after sunset. A similar scheme is devised for the first three days of the Idul Fitri holiday, providing food packages for students to take home during the break.
From a logistical standpoint, the program may well proceed without disruption. However, a more fundamental question remains: is maintaining the initiative during the fasting month, and extending it into Idul Fitri, the most effective and responsible use of a limited education budget?
The free meal program is earmarked for Rp 335 trillion (US$20 billion) this year, a massive allocation equivalent to 42 percent of the total national education budget. This spending has drawn significant criticism from experts who warn it could undermine efforts to address the country’s persistent educational crisis.
According to the BGN, the initiative costs approximately Rp 1.2 trillion per day. If it continues throughout Ramadan and into the holiday break, spending for that single month alone would reach roughly Rp 33 trillion. This is a staggering sum to justify at a time when most students are fasting and the government is operating under tight fiscal constraints.
Redirecting even a fraction of these funds could have a transformative impact on the nation’s education sector: repairing dilapidated classrooms, improving teacher welfare and expanding opportunities for millions of students at risk of dropping out due to economic hardship.
The need for infrastructure investment is no longer a matter of aesthetics; it is a matter of safety. Reports of school collapses have become alarmingly frequent. Late last year, dozens of students in West Java were injured in three separate structural failures. Recently, a widely circulated video showed junior high students in Sikka Regency, East Nusa Tenggara, studying in a severely damaged bamboo hut after strong winds tore through their original building.
In that video, students sat on the bare ground, struggling to write their lessons, a striking reminder of the deep inequalities in education infrastructure across the archipelago. This year, the government allocated approximately Rp 14 trillion to renovate 11,000 schools. However, this is a drop in the bucket. With 1.2 million classrooms across 195,000 schools currently in moderate to severe disrepair, the current funds cover only about 5.6 percent of the total need.
Beyond physical repairs, the funds could be redirected to expand direct student assistance. By suspending the free meal program for just one month, the government could almost triple the number of recipients for the Smart Indonesia Card (KIP) scholarship. Last year’s budget of Rp 13.3 trillion supported 18.5 million students; an extra Rp 33 trillion would provide a lifeline to the 3.9 million children who are currently out of school due to poverty or forced early labor.
Finally, pausing the program could address the chronic underpayment of Indonesia’s 2.6 million honorary teachers. Many currently earn only Rp 400,000 per month, a mere 17 percent of the country’s lowest minimum wage. Pausing the meal program for just one month could fund a raise to the minimum wage for these teachers for five full months, providing a meaningful improvement to their quality of life.
Although nutrition programs play an important role in supporting student well-being, sound public policy requires the strategic prioritization of limited resources.
Ramadan is a season of reflection and discipline. It is an appropriate moment for policymakers to reflect on their own fiscal discipline, and to consider whether current spending truly aligns with the most urgent needs of Indonesia’s education system.
ANN/The Jakarta Post
