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Prabowo to include private school in free meals program: Nutrition body
Students in most private schools in big cities, especially Jakarta, are affluent and the agency emphasized that their participation would be optional.
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Students eat lunch on Aug. 5, 2024. during the trial of the free nutritious meals program at SDN 4 Tangerang state elementary school in Tangerang, Banten. The newly established National Nutrition Agency will oversee the implementation of the program, one of president-elect Prabowo Subianto's campaign promises during the 2024 presidential election. (Antara/Galih Pradipta )
P
resident-elect Prabowo Subianto is poised to include private schools in his flagship free nutritious meals program in addition to public schools centers, the National Nutrition Agency said.
National Nutrition Agency head Dadan Hindayana told lawmakers on Tuesday that Prabowo’s approach to human resources was comprehensive, and the president-elect wanted to ensure that no group would be left out from receiving nutritious meals, as quoted from CNN Indonesia.
Students in most private schools in big cities, especially Jakarta, are affluent and the agency emphasized that their participation would be optional.
“If they [private schools] don’t want to receive the meals, that’s fine. But if they choose to join, we’ll count them as part of the program,” he said.
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There are over 53 million students in Indonesia across education levels, including vocational and special schools, the latter of which houses differently abled students, according to data from the Education, Culture, Research and Technology Ministry. Over half of all students are located in Java.
The free meals program is projected to cost over Rp 460 trillion (US$29.3 billion) annually when fully rolled out, but the incumbent government and the transition team representing the incoming Prabowo administration have agreed to implement it gradually.
