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December 25, 2024 | 09:23 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The National Nutrition Agency (BGN) has denied allegations of fees for the free nutritious meal program (MBG) at a school. Head of the BGN Legal and Public Relations Bureau, Senior Commissioner Lalu Muhammad Iwan Mahardan, said that the program was completely free and there was no obligation for parents to pay additional fees.
"The free nutritious meal program was initiated by the government. There is no element of levy, let alone the obligation to buy food containers," he said in a written statement, Tuesday, December 24, 2024.
Iwan said that the free nutritious meal program was designed with the principles of equality and accessibility, so that no students feel burdened or isolated. He said that President Prabowo Subianto's priority program was a strategic effort by the government to improve the quality of human resources from an early age.
"We understand the concerns of the community, and through this clarification, we want to ensure that this program is here to ease the burden on parents, not the other way around," he said.
Furthermore, he also appealed to the public to immediately report if they find individuals trying to take advantage of this program. Iwan said that the National Nutrition Agency will continue to monitor the implementation of the nutritious meal program throughout Indonesia. The goal is to ensure that the benefits are truly felt by the younger generation, without any obstacles.
Previously, a video clip circulated on social media showing parents holding a meeting at their child's school. The video contained a caption stating allegations of extortion by the school in relation to the implementation of the free nutritious meal program.
"Having a meeting at school. Free meal program but you have to buy 2 lunch boxes, the price is Rp30,000 per unit, you have to buy 2, so the total is Rp60,000," wrote the account @ahmad.lehan6 on his TikTok account.
The video then drew many comments from other social media users. One of them was the official TikTok account of the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra). The account asked who provided the information that the free nutritious meal program required money for lunch boxes. Then, @ahmad.lehan6 replied, "The principal."
As of this writing, it is still unknown which school is referred to in the video.
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