Jakarta. President-Elect Prabowo Subianto will begin his signature free school meal program on Jan. 2, 2025, according to the newly established National Nutrition Agency 

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo not long ago set up an agency dedicated to making sure that the population meet their nutritional needs. The agency is also in charge of preparing Prabowo’s planned scheme of providing free lunches for all Indonesian school children. 

Earlier this week, Jokowi also appointed Dadan Hindayana -a lecturer at the state-run agricultural university IPB-- as the head of the agency. Dadan recently revealed when Prabowo’s government would likely start the free meal program. 

“The nutritious meal program will begin on Aug. 2,” Dadan told the press in Jakarta on Monday, not long after his inauguration ceremony. 

Dadan, however, said that it would be up to Prabowo to decide on whether he should remain the National Nutrition Agency head by the time the latter becomes president. Dadan added: “That is [Prabowo’s] prerogative as a president.”

“My job is to prepare the procedures related to the nutritious meal program for the school children, the students at the boarding schools, pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers as well as toddlers,” Dadan said. 

The government is planning to allocate Rp 71 trillion (around $4.6 billion) for the free school meal program in 2025. The National Nutrition Agency will be in charge of managing this money, according to Dadan. 

“We will also decide on the nutritional standards, composition and so on,” Dadan said. 

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