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Learning from other countries’ free school meal programs
This program helps working families who cannot prepare lunch for their children, and prevents hunger and malnutrition.
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Food for thought: Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto (right) checks a student’s meal on Feb. 29, 2024 during a simulation of a free school meal program at SMP Negeri 2 state junior high school in Curug, Tangerang regency, Banten. (Antara/Sulthony Hasanuddin)
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resident-elect Prabowo Subianto is pursuing a free school meal program to help eliminate stunting in children by 2045. The program is expected to boost existing campaigns against stunting, which have only achieved a 1-2 percent reduction in 2021-2023, according to the Indonesia Nutrition Status Survey (SSGI), well below the annual targets.
However, this program has sparked debates because of its substantial cost of approximately Rp 71 trillion (US$4.4 billion) annually.
Several countries have already implemented such programs and have claimed to have been successful, including India, Brazil, Sweden, Finland and China. Finland was the first country to serve free school meals, starting in 1948. Known for its outstanding education system, Finland invests big in human capital by providing equal opportunities to all children through access to free education and meals.
Finland believes hungry children cannot focus on learning, and school lunches are crucial for educational equality. The objectives also include education on health, nutrition and table manners.
However, Finland does not have a national budget solely for school meals. Municipalities allocate their own budgets for the school meals.
The government provides a certain amount of money per schoolchild, but the municipalities decide how to use it (for materials, teaching, school meals, special education, school transport, etc.). The school meals per student per year in Finland in 2022 cost 572 euros ($623.8) for 190 school days, equivalent to approximately Rp 10 million per year or around Rp 50,000 per day.
In China, the Free Lunch for Children (FLC) Initiative was initiated in 2011. This program was launched because many families were too poor to afford lunch for children or lived far away from their schools.
