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View all search resultsEyes on education bill as free meals may seek funding lifeline
The revision to the education system law could pave the way for the multitrillion-rupiah free nutritious meal program to once again be financed through the education budget, teachers groups have warned, potentially reversing a court decision ruling out free meals as an education expense.
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Students eat lunch as part of the free nutritious meal program on Jan. 6, 2025, at a school in Jakarta. (Reuters/Willy Kurniawan)
T
he revision to the education system law could pave the way for the multitrillion-rupiah free nutritious meal program to once again be financed through the education budget, teachers groups have warned, potentially reversing a court decision ruling out free meals as an education expense.
The Indonesian Teachers Association (P2G) raised concerns that the bill to revise National Education System (Sisdiknas) Law, initiated by the House of Representatives and currently under deliberation, contains vague provisions that could include health services as a core education aspect.
A provision in the draft bill dated July 8 says the government and society, when managing education, “provide health services, including those concerning mental health, at educational institutions in a manner that is integrated with the national health policies as well as the national education goals”.
“We strongly suspect that the article could be translated into applying health policies at educational institutions,” P2G national coordinator Satriwan Salim told The Jakarta Post on Friday. “This means that the free meals program, as a manifestation of national health policy, could eventually become a core component of education.”
He said the provision could be open to multiple interpretations and warned of its potential implications if the bill is eventually passed without meaningful public participation.
The concerns came after the Constitutional Court ruled on July 30 that President Prabowo Subianto’s free meals program was not part of education and thus should not be financed through the education budget, in favor of petitions by teachers, lecturers, students and nonprofit organizations.
Under the Constitution, at least 20 percent of the annual state budget must be allocated to education. But this year, Rp 223 trillion (US$12.5 billion) of the Rp 769 trillion education budget was used to fund the free meals program, accounting for nearly one-third of mandatory education spending.
