Jakarta. The National Nutrition Agency or BGN said Tuesday that parents would not have to spend a dime for the upcoming nutritious school lunch program, let alone buy a lunchbox.

The statement came after a video of a parent complaining that an unnamed school had forced them to pay extra for the lunchboxes. Parents even had to buy two containers -- each costing Rp 30,000 (approximately $1.85). This is threefold than the money that the government is willing to spend to prepare each meal. BGN’s spokesman Lalu Muhammad Iwan Mahardan told the press that there was no such thing as additional lunchbox costs. In other words, this program is entirely free for all.

“The nutritious meal program is here to make sure that every Indonesian child has access to the nutrition that they need for their growth. There should be no levies, let alone extra costs for a lunch box,” Lalu Iwan said.

“We would like to say that the free meal program is here to alleviate the parents’ burden, not the other way around,” he said.

Lalu Iwan also reminded people to immediately report to BGN if they encounter any illegal levy attempt from this free meal program. Indonesia is planning to start the free meal program on Jan. 6 after months of trial runs. 

At present, the government is expected to spend Rp 10,000 for each lunch plate, much lower than the originally intended Rp 15,000. The government claimed Rp 10,000 would be enough to provide nutrient-dense meals to the kids.

Past trial runs show that there are schools which serve the meals on stainless steel trays, while others use cardboard packaging or the usual plastic lunchboxes.

The government has set aside Rp 71 trillion (nearly $4.4 billion) in state money to run the free meal campaign for 2025 alone.

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