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Enthusiasm fills schools on first day of free meals program
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Students eat their lunches on Monday, the first day of the free meals program, at Angkasa 5 Elementary School in Jakarta. Indonesia launched an ambitious US$4.3 billion free meals program on Monday to combat stunted growth caused by malnutrition, a key election promise of President Prabowo Subianto.
(AFP/Yasuyoshi Chiba)
P
resident Prabowo Subianto’s much-anticipated free nutritious meals program finally had its official rollout on Monday in numerous provinces across Indonesia, as students and teachers welcomed the first day of implementation with excitement.
Prabowo has pledged to provide free meals to tens of millions of schoolchildren and pregnant women, aiming to improve their quality of life and eventually boost economic growth.
“For the first time in the history of independent Indonesia, a universal government-subsidized program will provide millions with rich nutritious meals, processed with high standards of hygiene,” said Presidential Communication Office (PCO) spokesperson Philips J. Vermonte.
He added that the program has received strong endorsements from United Nations agencies. Stunting affects 21.5 percent of children in the country of some 282 million people, and it aims to reduce the rate to five percent by 2045.
From the early morning of Monday, hundreds of kitchens run by third-party catering services, including some run by military bases, were busy preparing a variety of menus. One kitchen in Palmerah, West Jakarta, for example, prepared an assortment of white rice, teriyaki chicken, fried tofu, stir-fried long beans and an orange.
Read also: Anticipation as govt rolls out free meals program
Meanwhile, the Military District Command (Kodim) 0816 kitchen in Sidoarjo, East Java, offered fried chicken fillets, tempeh and a small carton of milk. The Kodam I Bukit Barisan kitchen in Medan, North Sumatra, provided a slice of melon and a mineral water on the side.
