Indonesia launches free school meals programme
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Indonesia has started a scheme to provide free school meals. It is called The Free Nutritious Meal Programme. Over 570,000 children and pregnant women received a free breakfast when the idea started on Monday. Cooks in more than 190 kitchens in 20 provinces helped to cook and serve the free food. More kitchens will start as the programme spreads nationwide. The plan was an election promise of President Prabowo Subianto. He hopes to feed a quarter of Indonesians by 2029. This will cost $28 billion. Around 82 million people will get free food by that year. Mr Subianto wants to end malnutrition in Indonesia. Around 21.5 per cent of children younger than five years old suffer from poor nutrition.
President Subianto spoke about his hopes. He said: "Too many of our brothers and sisters are below the poverty line. Too many of our children go to school without breakfast." Many parents were happy. Hana Yohana, the mother of an elementary school child in the capital Jakarta, spoke to reporters. She said: "Thank God. This really helps us. We normally have to work hard preparing food every morning, but now we don't." Government spokesperson Hariqo Wibawa Satria spoke about the free meals. He said: "This is a historic moment for Indonesia. For the first time, our country is conducting a nationwide nutrition program for toddlers, students, and pregnant and breastfeeding mothers."
Sources:
- https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2025/1/6/indonesia-kicks-off-first-free-meal-programme-for-children-pregnant-women
- https://apnews.com/article/indonesia-prabowo-subianto-free-meals-children-mothers-213a04587203434f3f85950725e84a8b
- https://www.arabnews.com/node/2585436/world
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