Indonesia suspends free school meals programme amid budget pressure

JAKARTA: Indonesia will suspend its flagship free meals programme for schoolchildren during holidays and scale back its reach as the government moves to ease pressure on the state budget, an official said.

The programme will be halted from June 22 to July 13 and paused during future school breaks, said Agustina Arumsari, deputy head of the National Nutrition Agency, noting meals were still distributed during last year’s holiday period.

The agency will stop funding meals for about 39,000 students in 76 schools in areas deemed able to meet nutritional needs and redirect resources to remote regions, she said.

Arumsari said the changes form part of a wider reorganisation and efficiency drive following the arrest of the agency’s former head earlier this month over alleged corruption linked to the scheme.

The programme’s budget has already been cut to 268 trillion rupiah (US$15.1 billion) from 335 trillion rupiah, with plans to propose further reductions next year from an initial 270 trillion rupiah projection.

“We think the figure is too big,” Arumsari said. “With the budget we have, we can cut back and make it more efficient.”

The agency will also reduce incentives for kitchens closed during school holidays, potentially saving around 3.4 trillion rupiah, and may shut facilities with low participation or those failing to meet standards.